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HISTORY 



The United States, 



WRITTEN FOR THE 



CHAUTAUQUA READING CIRCLES. 



EDWARD E. HALE. 



^ AUG 24 1887 ^i 



' ASKi?v-5 ■ 



NEW YORK: 

CHAUTAUQUA PRESS, 

C. L. S. C. Department, 

S05 Broadway. 

1887. 



The required, books of the C. L. S. C are reeommended by 
a CoxAneil of six. It must, however, be understood that reeom- 
mendation does not involve an approval by the Council, or by 
any member of it, of every principle or doctrine contained in the 
book reeon'amended. 



\ 
I 



Copyright 1S37, by Phillips A: Hunt, S05 Broadway, New York. 



CONTENTS. 



PAeE 
CHAPTER I. 

First Voyages of Discovery 13 

CHAPTER II. 
Virginia 30 

CHAPTER III. 
The Settlement of New England — Plymouth 41 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Settlement of Massachusetts 50 i 

CHAPTER V. 
Philip's War 63 

CHAPTER VI. 
New York, 1609 71 

CHAPTER VII. 
Government of New England Changed 80 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Carolinas and Virginia — 1680-1700 91 

CHAPTER IX. 
New York and Pennsylvania 99 

CHAPTER X. 
New England for Sixty Years 108 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XL 
The Southern Colonies from 1700-1754 118 

CHAPTER XII. 
The French and Indian War 126 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Colonial Irritation 138 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Boston Massacre 146 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Boston Tea Party , 150 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Washington in Command 164 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Declaration of Independence 169 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Burgoyne and the Campaign of 1777 173 

CHAPTER XIX. 
1778-1779 178 

CHAPTER XX. 
The War at Sea 183 

CHAPTER XXI. 
The French Alliance 191 

CHAPTER XXII, 
End of the War 205 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Settlement of the West 214 



CONTENTS. 5 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Valley of the Mississippi and Texas 224 

CHAPTER XXV. 
The Federal Constitution 242 

CPIAPTER XXVI. 
Washington's Presidency 253 

CHAPTER XXVn. 
Three Steps of Progress 259 

CHAPTER XXVin. 
The Early Diplomacy of the United States 265 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Adams, Jefferson, and Madison 276 

CHAPTER XXX. 
The War of 1812 293 



PREFACE. 



THE preparation of a history of the United States for 
the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle has 
been a real pleasure. Of course the council understand, when 
they place as short a book as this in the hands of readers, 
that those readers will wish to refer to the more full studies 
which illustrate either the general subject or special details 
which will have interest to different persons in different local- 
ities. The master work of Mr. Bancroft, which brings the 
history of America down to the adoption of the Constitution, 
will be — or should be — within reach, in some public library, 
of each of our readers in America. The Popular History of 
the United States, edited under the masterly care of Mr. 
Sydney H. Gay, one of the first of American historians, brings 
the history down to the end of the Civil War. It is the work 
of many writers, of whom Mr. Gay is easily the chief, and it 
may be referred to as an authority of the first class. In each 
neighborhood local histories of value will be found ; and it 
was one of not the least advantages of the series of centennial 
celebrations which covered the years from 1863 to 1883 that 
they called the attention of students in every part of the 
United States to the materials yet to be found for the proper 
understanding of the history of the country. Such local 
histories should be sought for by our readers wherever they 
are, and will make an agreeable accompaniment to the study 
of the general history which is now in their hands. 

It is quite safe to say that we understand the history of our 
own country better than it was ever understood before ; and 



8 PREFACE. 

while there are still many things concealed which we should 
be glad to know, time, as it passes, uncovers more which were 
hidden by the prudence or timidity of the past, so that, on the 
whole, we are gainers in the matter of history as time goes by. 
It must be confessed that the habit of the American mind 
has not, on the whole, been favorable for the writers of his- 
tory, who would collect those suggestions or illustrations by 
which we make the past appear on our canvas in the light 
of to-day. The first settlers in the country were, perhaps, 
too much engaged with the hard duties of pioneers, to be able 
to give much time to the description of those picturesque 
and romantic surroundings which their successors would be 
so glad to look upon. It happens, oddly enough, that it is 
more often from the rapid sketch of some traveler, who is not 
bound down by the cares of pressing daily duty, that we are 
apt to catch what the artists would call the broken lights 
which give distinctness, vividness, and even interest, to the 
picture of the past which we are trying to re-create. Fortu- 
nately for us, it happens, in some instances, that the work of 
such travelers can be found. In particular we owe to the 
French writers, of the period of the Revolution and of the 
generation which follows it, some hints on the method of 
daily life in America Avhich it would be difficult to gain from 
the more studied and serious business papers which our 
fathers have left to us. 

It is not too late for us to express the wish and the hope 
that the students in the Chautauqua course will thus under- 
take the preservation of the materials of local history in the 
neighborhoods in which they live. There can scarcely be 
named a part of the United States — perhaps there cannot be 
named a part of the United States — where careful conversa- 
tion with the aged, careful exploration of the public records, 
and careful investigation of files of old letters, or of old books 
of account, would not bring to light much which would have 
historic value for the writer, whoever he may be, who is to 
undertake the work in another generation which has been 
undertaken in the book which is now in the reader's hands. 



PREFACE. 9 

The writing of our history is no longer the gathering to- 
gether of the traditions of a few colonists landing from 
Europe on the eastern shore of America. The nation of 
to-day is a nation which is to seek its origin not only in the 
history of Great Britain and Ireland ; but in the history of 
France, of Spain, of Holland, of Germany, of Russia, and of 
Mexico. The early efforts at colonization have been made 
from different motives, by men of wholly different training, 
and in very different ways. The original memoirs and au- 
thorities which explain them are to be found in very different 
places and languages. Nothing can be more fascinating than 
to study such origins in the early documents which still exist, 
or in the traditions which will not exist long. And we cannot 
but recommend such study to the faithful student of the his- 
tory of the United States. 

There are some points in our history which will always, 
probably, be more or less doubtful, and be matters for discus- 
sion among conscientious students. But there are many 
points, which would have been spoken of thus doubtfully a 
generation ago, which may now be considered as quite def- 
initely settled. The first of these is the arrival of the North- 
men on our coast at the end of the tenth century of the 
Christian era. Even when Mr. Irving wrote his Life of 
Columbus^ such a discovery of America seemed matter 
rather for legend, and perhaps only of fancy. But the reader 
of American history to-day should understand that the fact 
may be considered as settled beyond doubt, and that the 
questions which arise are simply questions of detail as to what 
may have been the farthest point gained by these Northern 
explorers. On the other side of the continent it has been 
made equally clear, by the investigations of the Californian 
antiquaries, that vessels from Asia could have arrived on the 
western coast in any of the centuries from Marco Polo's time 
down, and, probably, for many centuries before. All the old 
questions about the peopling of this continent from any stock 
different from the stocks which peopled Europe and Asia 

may thus be dismissed where they belong. The opening of 
1* 



lO PREFACE. 

the archives of different European countries to investigation 
throws more and more light on such fictions as have sur- 
rounded the voyages of Verrazano and others, and, on the 
whole, the history of the mythical century, as we have ven- 
tured to call it, is better understood now than it was fifty 
years ago. 

Of the colonial history proper, careful studies were early 
made in each of the colonies. But, with the passion for scien- 
tific historical investigation which belongs to our time, a great 
deal is done in every year to make those histories more human, 
if we may so say, and intelligible. Such work, for instance, 
as Mr. Weeden's great book on the History of Coinmerce 
brings under one point of view subjects of which, in the 
past, the study has been only fragmentary, disjointed, and 
unsatisfactory in proportion. 

Of the Revolution, of its causes, its methods, and its results, 
we certainly know much more than Judge Marshall knew, or 
even George Washington, or any of the men of their times. 
The governments in possession of European archives are no 
longer coy about opening to students the papers in their pos- 
session. We know, for instance, that George the Third was 
his own enemy, and the enemy of Great Britain. We know 
something of the divided councils of England, and of the 
causes which led to division ; of the policies of France and 
Spain and the other countries of Europe. We are able to 
make a study much more complete than was in the power of 
Mr. Botta, Mr. Grahame, Judge Marshall, or any other of the 
earlier historians. 

In the study of our own political history there is unques- 
tionably great difficulty. One is tempted to say that the 
American statesman has a habit of secretiveness which did 
not belong to Sully, or to the Walpoles, or even the Pitts, of 
other generations. One is tempted to say that because certain 
measures cannot be fully discussed before the great audience 
of all the people of America, the real discussion of them is 
left to the privacy of confidential language, leaving no sign 
behind. It seems as if this happened more often than in 



PREFACE. 1 1 

Europe. But perhaps this is what historians always say of 
two or three generations before the time they v/rite in. This 
is certain, that with the passage of years we obtain more 
and more side lights, sometimes from very unexpected sources, 
as to the methods, and even as to the actions, of the men who 
came most into the public eye in the first generations of the 
Federal Union. It is more and more certain that these men 
were not as important as they thought themselves, and as 
their times thought them. It is more and more certain that 
the People of the United States governs the United States. 
It directs the fortunes of the United States even where the 
magistrates of its election, who are after all but the servants 
of its will, have not rightly comprehended what is the true 
destiny of the republic. It is certainly a curious and instruct- 
ive truth that the three great victories of America, in the first 
thirty years after the formation of the Federal Constitution, 
were victories in no sort premeditated by the chief magistrates 
of America, and to which it may be said their administration 
of government did not in any way contribute. The creation 
of the great industry by which cotton was raised and sent over 
the world — the opening and maintenance of the immense 
maritime prosperity of thirty years — the marvelous emigra- 
tion by which the valley of the Mississippi has been made 
the store-house from v/hich the world is fed — these are the 
three important features of the first fifty years of American 
history. In regard to each of them we may say that the ad- 
ministration which had charge of the "government" of the 
country knew little of the causes which led to it, or of the 
methods by which it was developed. So far as it could it 
did much to check them. But the People is wiser than any 
man of the people ; and the People, under the direction of 
the God who always smiles on well-meant endeavor, carried 
them through. 

The careful reader will see, in more than one instance, tliat 
the same subject has been referred to, and even the same 
statement repeated, in different chapters of this book. It is 
proper to say here that this is not an accident or oversight, 



1 2 PREFACE. 

but that this repetition of statement has been decided on, as, 
on the whole, convenient to such readers as will have this 
book in hand. It would, of course, have been quite in my 
power to have referred the reader from chapter to chapter, or 
from page to page, for the details which I have preferred to 
repeat. But my object has been to present to him, what he is 
told, in the way easiest for him ; and I have been willing to 
sacrifice the appearance of elaborate finish, if I could give to 
him the information which he wished, in the form most con- 
venient to him. EDWARD E. HALE. 
RoxBURY, Mass., May 5, 1887. 



THE 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 



CHAPTER I. 
First Voyages of Discovery. 

Northmen's Discoveries — The Icelandic Accounts — Life in Rhode Island — 
Expedition Around Cape Cod and Into Massachusetts Bay — Skrael- 
lings — Return to Greenland — Another Expedition Entered Buzzard's 
Bay — Skeleton in Armor — Columbus's Discovery — Charter to John 
and Sebastian Cabot — Venetian Discoveries — Mythical Period of His- 
tory — Juan Ponce de Leon's Discovery of Florida — Verazzano — De 
Soto Landed in Florida — De Soto's Death and Burial in the Missis- 
sippi River — Failure of Spanish Attempt to Colonize Florida — Rumors 
and Expeditions in Search of Great Wealth in Northern Mexico — Set- 
tlement of Santa Fe and St. Augustine — Landing of Sir Francis Drake 
on Pacific Coast — Huguenots — Sir John Hawkins — Menendez — 
Revenge on the Spaniards — Storming of San Mateo — Defeat of the 
Spanish — Lane's Settlement at Roanoke— That Island Abandoned — • 
Arrival of Sir Richard Grenville — First English Child Born in What 
is Now the United Slates — Gosnold's Expedition and Settlement of 
Cutlyhunk. 

THE earliest discovery of the coast of the United States 
was made by the Northmen. These bold navigators, 
having made theinselves quite at home in Iceland, crossed to 
Greenland, and early in the eleventh century one of their ex- 
peditions pressed farther south and reached the coasts of Nova 
Scotia and, probably, of Massachusetts. The only narrative 
which is preserved is in poetical language and has in it the 
elements of legend. There is great controversy in regard to 
it and to its claims as history. At the present moment, how- 
ever, the balance of opinion among well-informed people 



14 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

supposes that an expedition led by Leif, a Norse prince, in 
the year looo of the Christian era, passed as far south as what 
is now known as Mount Hope Bay, at the head of Narra- 
gansett Bay, in Rhode Island. 

The Icelandic accounts go into a good deal of detail as to 
the aspect of the shores, and different enthusiasts point out 
one and another spot which they consider to be well described 
now. The most definite sign, however, which is given as to 
their locality is an intimation that, on the shortest day of the 
year, the sun rose at half-past seven in the morning and set 
at half-past four. If this observation had been made with 
mathematical correctness, and with instruments of perfection, 
the latitude of tlie point where they spent the winter would 
be 41 degrees, 24 minutes and 10 seconds, which is about 
that of Mount Hope Bay. Their own phrase is, '' There came 
no frost in the winter to this country, and the grass hardly 
withered there." They thought the nature of the country 
was so good that cattle would not require house feeduig. 
With our more luxurious agriculture this seems a remarkable 
statement to make of southern New England. But it is quite 
within the memory of living men that horses were left with- 
out shelter in the open air through the winter in Rhode 
Island. 

Leif, having determined to spend the winter here, divided 
his company into two parties, one of which should be a party 
of explorers, while the other watched the country. They 
took turns in this duty. A German named Tyrker returned 
from one of these expeditions in great excitement. At first 
the Icelanders thought he v/as out of his mind. But he said 
at last, in their own language, " I have not been far off, but 
still I have something new to tell. I find vines and grapes." 
"Is that true, my foster father?" said Leif. "True it is," he 
said. " I grew up in a land v>'here there is no v/ant of either 
vines or grapes." 

This is the picturesque account which is given of the dis- 
covery of grapes in the new land, which gave it the name of 
Vinland. This statement has been thought to show that the 



NORTHMEN. 1 5 

explorers niust have come well down into the New England 
region, and verifies the statement made with regard to lat- 
itude. The discovery proved to them to be an important one. 
They gathered the grapes in great quantities and heaped 
them upon the stern boat of their vessel. They filled the hold 
of the vessel with timber which would be valuable in Green- 
land, and with this cargo returned home in the spring. 

In fact, as Dr. Gray informs us, the Fox grape of the New 
England shore may be traced as far north as Massachusetts, 
and, possibly, in New Hampshire. The Vitis cestivalis, which 
is also eatable, may be found in New Brunswick. The Frost 
grape, which is scarcely eatable, runs into Lower Canada. 
There is some doubt whether it can be found in Nova Scotia. 
Certainly it would be hard to load a boat with its clusters. 

In the next year, the year 1002, the brother of Leif, named 
Thorvald, who is said to have been the ancestor of the great 
sculptor Thorvaldsen, repeated the voyage with a crew of 
thirty men. He found the booths still standing which his 
brother had put up, and he, as his brother had done, went 
into Avinter quarters in this pleasant land. He found salmon 
and other fish in those waters ; and here again is an accurate 
description of what he would have found were he at the head 
of Narragansett Bay. In the spring Thorvald coasted to the 
westward and is supposed to have gone as far as New York, 
where he found another lake through which a river flowed to 
the sea. This is supposed to describe the Tappan-sea of the 
Dutch. On one occasion they saw a shed built of wood, for 
the housing of corn ; but they saw no people. 

Having remained the next winter, Thorvald started in his 
ship for a more extended expedition. He is supposed to 
have doubled Cape Cod from the south and entered Massa- 
chusetts Bay. At the head of that bay he met with natives 
for the first time. These natives are described as " skrael- 
lings." They were small men, and are described as the 
Northmen describe the Esquimaux Indians. The impression 
has thus been given that at this early period the coast of New 
England was possessed by a race which we now know only 



l6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

in the Arctic regions, and subsequently dispossessed by the 
x\lgonquin race of Indians whom the English found there 
afterward. But of this conquest by the Algonquins no trace 
has been found in their legends neither are any skeletons 
of Esquimaux found in the Indian burial-places of New 
England. 

The Northmen stole upon nine skraellings unawares and 
captured eight of them, whom they killed in cold blood. The 
ninth escaped. He brought back with him his fellows to 
avenge the murder. The Northmen fled to their ships. 
After the running battle it proved that Thorvald had been 
wounded. He died there, and was buried, as is supposed, on 
a cape which looks out on Boston Bay. At his head and feet 
they planted crosses. They sailed back around Cape Cod 
to Vinland, and in the next spring they returned to Green- 
land. In the spring or summer of 1005 another expedition 
sailed, but did not succeed in finding Vinland, or, indeed^ 
any land. But in the year 1007 a party of three ships and 
140 men and women tried the adventure again. They recog- 
nized the points discovered before ; they noticed islands 
which are supposed to have been Nantucket and Martha's 
Vineyard, and they entered Buzzard's Bay. Here they spent 
their first winter. But they were not sufficiently provisioned, 
and one party undertook to return to Iceland. They never 
reached it, however, and it was rumored that they were re- 
duced into slavery in Ireland. The other two ships sailed 
farther on and made other explorations. The travelers made 
a settlement which might have been permanent but for an 
attack of the natives. They are described as being black 
and fierce, with coarse hair, large eyes and broad cheeks. 
The expression "broad cheeks " is a good description of the 
American Indians. After one and another skirmish and 
severe attack their colony was given up in the year 10 10. 

In the next year Freydis, an energetic woman who had 
been in the early expeditions, led out another colony and 
arrived at the place, which by this time was well known, 
where Leif had built his booths. But, if the Saga is to be 



EARLY VOYAGES, 1/ 

believed, the party having quarreled, more than half of them 
were murdered in a horrible treachery, and with the spring 
the survivors returned to Greenland or Iceland. With this 
piece of savage barbarism the history of ten years of coloniza- 
tion ends somewhat suddenly. 

The whole history is so romantic that every effort has been 
made to corroborate it from the indications now or recently 
to be found in New England. Of these the most interesting 
besides those which have been mentioned was the discovery 
near Fall River of the "skeleton in armor," which gives the 
subject of one of Mr. Longfellow's early poems. But, by a 
misfortune, this skeleton and the armor were burned in a 
museum before critical attention had been called to the 
Sagas which gave us this description. For some time it was 
supposed that there was another monument of the Northmen 
in the wind-mill still standing on the little public square at 
Newport ; but more careful investigation showed that this was 
built as a wind-mill in the second generation of English set- 
tlements. There remains to be noticed here a curiously 
inscribed rock on the shore in Berkley, in Massachusetts, near 
the place where it is supposed the Northmen settled. But 
the marks heavily cut in this granite, although evidently the 
work of men, resemble so closely the marks on Indian 
blankets, and even on rocks in different parts of the United 
States, that no real argument can be drawn from them. 

There are many traditions existing in early European his- 
tory of voyages made across the Atlantic, in which it is sup- 
posed that the explorers discovered a new land. But for the 
purposes of the history of the United States, which is what 
engages us, these need not be examined in detail. It is sup- 
posed that the success of the Norse adventure was one of the 
encouragements which Columbus had for the great discovery 
in which, on the nth of October, 1492, he revealed, for prac- 
tical purposes, the western continent to the Old World. His 
success was followed by the grant of Henry VII. in England 
of a charter to John and Sebastian Cabot to sail westward to 
attempt a similar discovery. It is now quite freely said that 



1 8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the French fishermen of the coast of Biscay had been in the 
habit of taking fish off the banks of Newfoundland long be- 
fore that time. It may well be that in such fishing they 
were acquainted with one and another point on the north- 
eastern coast of America where they could land and dry their 
fish ; and it may be that such points were not considered of 
any great importance, as they offered but little that was 
tempting for colonization. Whether the Cabots had any 
information from such persons is not known. What is cer- 
tain is that as early as the loth of August, 1497, there is a 
memorandum in King Henry's private accounts that ten 
pounds was to go to " hym that found the new isle." On the 
24th of the same month the Venetian ambassador in England 
wrote home that a " Venetian who is a very good mariner, 
and has good skill in discovering new islands, has returned 
safe, and has found two very large and fertile islands ; having 
likewise found the seven cities four hundred leagues from 
England on the west. In the spring his majesty means to 
send him with fifteen or twenty ships." These dates are 
given because they are certain dates. What is very perplex- 
ing in the narrative is that an early map is found in which it 
is distinctly said that Cabot made this discovery in the year 
of the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, 1494 ; three years 
earlier than the date given in the account book and in the 
Venetian letter. But this map cannot be regarded as of the 
very first authority, because in another of its inscriptions it 
says that the great discovery was made in the year 1544. 
The date as given by Hakluyt, the great English historian, 
is 1497, and this date must be taken as the historical date 
when the Cabots made their landing which they marked as 
Prima Vista. So far as may be inferred from the small map, 
which is the earliest representing their voyage, they struck 
the continent somewhere near the eastern point of the Island 
of Cape Breton, not a great way from the fortress afterward 
so distinguished in American history, Louisburg. The island 
of Newfoundland, which might seem to bear the name of 
being the first point of discovery, was observed in one of these 



PONCE DE LEON. I9 

early voyages, but it is not the point which is indicated on the 
Cabots' map as Prima Vista. 

From this time, at the end of the fifteenth century, to the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth, come in a hundred years which 
have been well called the mythical period of our history. It is 
in those hundred years, almost mysterious, that poets might 
place their imagined histories, and that the really adventurous 
novelist might run wild without much chance of correction. 
It is even a matter of question who first laid down the outline 
of the present coast of the United States. Sebastian Cabot 
probably made a voyage far south. He went as far as 36 de- 
grees of northern latitude, which is about the latitude of South- 
ern Florida. But although he landed in some places and 
found copper among the natives, and although he captured 
some of them, he left no outline of the shore which is now 
known. Good authorities even doubt whether he ever sailed 
south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

The first narrative of any adventure in which we know 
Europeans to have made any considerable progress in the 
United States of to-day, after the time of the Northmen, is 
that by Juan Ponce De Leon. He had heard legends in the 
West India Islands of a fountain of perpetual youth which 
was to be found in Florida. That peninsula had not then re- 
ceived its name. He sailed from Porto Rico with three ships, 
in March, 15 12, to discover it ; and, passing one of the little 
"keys" on the south of Florida on Easter Sunday, which the 
Spaniards call " The Feast of Flowers," he named the land 
Florida because it was covered with flowers. His account of 
the new discovery represented it as a very important one, and 
he was made its first governor on condition that he would 
colonize it, which, in 152 1, he attempted to do, but in a fight 
with the Indians he was killed. In 15 19 Garay, the Spanish 
Governor of Jamaica, explored the gulf coast and discovered 
that Florida was not an island, as Ponce De Leon had sup- 
posed. In these expeditions Fernandina was the northern 
point touched by the Spanish, and on some of the old maps 
there is a blank left between the northern point of Florida 



20 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

as it now exists and the region which we call the British 
Provinces. How that blank was filled on the maps of the 
world is still a question. 

There is a narrative, which finds its place in most of the 
histories, of an exploration made by a pirate named Verraz- 
ano who sailed under a commission from the King of France. 
According to his own account, he struck the land on the 34th 
parallel in the spring of 1524. According to the same 
account he sailed to the 50th degree of northern latitude. 
In the older histories he is generally called the first discoverer 
of the Atlantic coast of the United States. But as he says 
he found lilies and roses in New Jersey in the month of April, 
as he found the Indians in Rhode Island making wine and oil 
before the sixth of May, as every other detail in this expedi- 
tion is such as a vivid imagination supplies readily and 
easily, it must be doubted whether any facts are at the 
bottom of his narrative. 

It really seems probable that the conjecture of Mr. Stevens 
is to be taken as the basis of real history. This writer sup- 
poses that, while the geographers of the East were still under 
the impression that America was a part of Asia, some one, who 
knew that the land of Asia in those latitudes was unbroken 
by any deep strait, drew in an imaginary line of the United 
States, from Florida to what was called the land of the Bac- 
alaos. Mr. Stevens supposes that subsequent navigators when 
they touched the real coast of the United States improved 
upon this imaginary line. In this way it may be said, almost 
without a paradox, that the Atlantic coast of the United 
States was never at any one moment, or by any one voyage, 
discovered to Europe. 

Had there been any rumor or hope of discovery of gold 
in these cases the Spaniards would have pressed their dis- 
coveries in that direction. But, in truth, they were more 
tempted elsewhere. An expedition in quest both of gold and 
other wealth was led out from the West Indies in 1528 by 
Pamphilo de Narvaez. He landed in, or near, Tampa Bay 
two days before Easter, and from that time he and his com- 



DE SOTO. 21 

panions, becoming more and more wretched in different 
extremities, explored tlie region north of the Gulf of Mex- 
ico. To us of to-day the most interesting result of this 
expedition is that four survivors, Avho were made slaves by 
the Indians, wandered from tribe to tribe for six years, and, 
having passed through our present Texas and the Mexican 
province of Sonora, came out at last on the northern settle- 
ments of the Spaniards, near the Gulf of California. It was 
the information which these people gave with regard to the 
somewhat civilized Indians, of whom the remnants exist in 
the Zunis and Moquis of to-day, which set the Spaniards 
u]3on exploration in that region. 

But before these survivors were heard from, Hernando 
De Soto, one of the followers of Pizarro, in Peru, had obtained 
a gift of the province of Florida from the crown, and landed 
with nearly a thousand men for its settlement. They arrived 
in Tampa Bay on May 30, 1539. 

De Soto for two or three years was engaged in wars with the 
natives, in marches to and fro, and in the attempt to discover 
the site where he should establish a great empire. At last he 
died on the shore of the Mississippi River, on May 21, 1542, 
and was buried in its waters. 

On July 2, 1543, the wretched remnant of the expedition, 
372 persons, embarked in boats which they had built on its 
shore, sailed down into the Gulf of Mexico, and at last 
reached the Spanish colony of Panuco on the shore of the 
Gulf of Mexico. Twenty years after, yet another Spanish 
expedition attempted to colonize Florida; but this expedition 
also failed, and returned to Mexico in 1561. 

The arrival in the north of Mexico of the four unfortunate 
men who had escaped from the expedition of Narvaez set 
the whole of the City of Mexico, and of the other parts of 
the country inhabited by Spaniards, in a blaze. These men 
had brought with them what were more exaggerated even than 
most travelers' stories. They gave accounts of well-built cities 
several stories high, of people who had silver and gold quite 
without limit, and decorated themselves with turquoises. The 



22 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

governor of that time thought that there was a new Peru 
open to him upon the North, and fitted out quite a strong 
expedition under the command of a cavalier named Coronado. 
This expedition started for the North in the spring of the 
year 1540. At the same time an expedition was sent to explore 
the then unknown Gulf of California, of which the opening 
had been discovered a short while before by Cortes himself. 
The maritime expedition followed up the eastern coast of 
California, and opened up the river known to us as the Colorado 
River. But they made no connection with the expedition 
which had proceeded by land. This party, after crossing the 
Desert of Sonora, came into the country which has quite 
within our generation been opened up to general travel, and 
found the well-built cities, but did not find the amount of 
gold and silver and turquoises which they had expected. The 
next summer a strong party of horsemen pressed as far East 
as the Mississippi River and returned. After a year or two 
of such occupancy Coronado himself died from a fall from 
a horse, and the remains of the party, dissatisfied with the 
almost constant fighting with the hardy natives, and with the 
inadequate return for such adventure, retired upon Mexico. 
The half-civilized inhabitants of the cities of which we know 
the relics, in the city of Zuni, now were left for centuries 
unmolested. At the end of this century, however, about the 
year 1580, an expedition of travelers struck the River Del 
Norte and followed it as far as our present city of Santa Fe. 
That city, founded by Onate about 1595, and St. Augustine, 
in Florida, are the oldest cities in the United States. 

Between the return of the expedition of Coronado and 
the outfit of the expedition which was to settle Santa Fe, a 
celebrated English voyager came to the western shore of the 
United States. It thus happened that this country, which was 
destined to use the English language and to be inhabited 
by races of an English origin, first came into the real pos- 
session of the English Crown by Sir Francis Drake's taking 
possession, in the name of Queen Elizabeth, of a bay in the 
Pacific. The geographers are not wholly agreed as to what the 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 23 

port was on that coast, where Drake landed, repaired his ship 
and took possession in the queen's name. It must have been 
either Jack's Bay, just outside the Bay of San Francisco, or 
the Bay of San Francisco itself. But the somewhat broken 
description which we have of the harbor does not very per- 
fectly describe either of these bays as they exist at present. 
What is certain is, that, in that latitude of 37I- degrees, or as 
near it as the rude instruments of the time would show, Drake 
landed in June, 1579, careened his vessel, the Victory, which 
needed cleaning and repairs sadly, and established a camp, 
where he rested for five weeks. The simple natives of the 
country thronged around the Englishmen in large numbers, 
supposing that they were gods, and offering sacrifice to them. 
But Drake, with a stern renunciation, refused to receive their 
worship. He, however, received them very cordially, made 
them presents, and edified them by inviting them to be 
present when he and his rough companions attended divine 
worship. They represented that it was their wish to make 
him their king ; but Drake explained to them that he was him- 
self but the subject of a higher power. He thought he made 
them understand who Queen Elizabeth was, and interested 
them when he took possession of that region, which he called 
Nova Albion, in her name. To their regret, after his ship 
was repaired, he departed for the West and crossed the ocean 
to the East Indies. The English Crown never made any 
claim for this territory under the pretext of Drake's discov- 
eries. It was reserved for the descendants of Drake's coun- 
trymen, nearly three centuries afterward, to take possession 
of California by conquest, after it had long been in the hands 
of the Spaniards. 

The ill-success of Ponce De Leon and of De Soto would 
have discouraged other Spanish efforts in Florida, or on the 
coast of what we now call South Carolina, but for the passion 
of religious hatred, which proved to be stronger even than the 
thirst for gold. As early as the year 1562, under the patron- 
age and foresight of the great Admiral Coligni, a small French 
colony established itself at the mouth of the St. John River. 



24 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The settlers were Huguenots. They took possession in the 
name of the King of France and built a little fort which they 
called Charles Fort. The place has been recognized in later 
times. It is at a spot known as Archer's Creek, a few miles 
from Beaufort, South Carolina, in the Bay of Port Royal. 
The settlers chose wisely, if a good harbor justified their 
choice. But after two years of various adventure they removed 
their colony to what they knew as the River of May, which 
is our St. John's River ; and here they established themselves 
at Fort Caroline, of which, also, the site is well known. In 
the year 1565, Laudonniere, their energetic leader, saw, to his 
delight, a fleet approaching at a time when his colony was 
sadly in need of succor. He supposed that these were 
vessels bringing him help from Coligni. It proved that it 
was an English fleet under the command of Sir John Hawkins, 
who was the fi^st man to engage England in the slave trade. 
Hawkins left one of his vessels behind him, and the colony 
took heart by his visit. A few days after, the expected relief 
arrived from France. Laudonniere, who had done every 
thing for the colony, was displaced under false charges and 
Ribault was named as his successor. Ribault learned at once 
that the charges made against Laudonniere were false, and 
offered to build another fortress for his own company. But 
before the offer could be tested the new comers and the old 
comers were fighting for their lives. 

Menendez, a Spanish commander, had led a crusade 
against these heretics, and Avith a part}'' much stronger than 
theirs had come upon the coast to destroy them. He stormed 
the little fort and massacred all of the prisoners whom he 
could take, with one or two exceptions. " Two youths, and 
the fifer, trumpeters and drummers were spared. The rest 
were put to the sword, judging this to be expedient for the 
service of God, our Lord, and Your Majesty." Ribault's beard 
was sent to Spain as a trophy. His head was divided into 
four quarters and stuck up on lances at the corners of the 
fort. The place of the massacre is known to this day as the 
"Bloody River of Matanzas." 



ST. AUGUSTINE. 2$ 

Having thus crushed the heretics Menendez laid out and 
established the town of St. Augustine. It was on the festival 
day of that saint, the 28th of August, that the Spanish fleet 
had run into the river of St. John. Three years passed away, 
and he and his Spaniards had forgotten their own treachery 
and cruelty, when three small vessels, which proved to be 
French, arrived in the river. They were under the com- 
mand of De Gourgues, a French Huguenot of high reputa- 
tion, who had lieard of the massacre of his countrymen. He 
had recruited a party with the single purpose of taking re- 
venge. Landing on the shore of Florida he put himself in 
communication with the Indians, who had already learned to 
hate the Spaniards, and was received by them with delight. 
Their warriors were all called in to join the French. De 
Gourgues surprised the Spanish fort exactly as Menendez had 
surprised Fort Caroline, and in a few moments the massacre 
of three years ago had been revenged, and only fifteen Span- 
iards were left alive of that little garrison. The soldiers on 
the other side of the river easily understood what had taken 
place. They were alarmed, as they well might be. They 
fled for their lives, but the French and the Indians fell upon 
them, and of this party also only the same number, fifteen, 
were saved. 

Encouraged by this success De Gourgues and his party 
stormed San Mateo, the other Spanish fort, and scarcely any 
of this garrison escaped. When the carnage was over nearly 
four hundred Spaniards lay unburied. Before their burial 
De Gourgues dealt with those who still lived. Near him 
were the trees on which Menendez hanged his prisoners with 
the inscription, " I do this not as unto Frenclimen, but as to 
Lutherans." To the same trees De Gourgues now led his 
prisoners for execution, and placed over them the inscription, 
"I do not this as unto Spaniards, nor as unto Maranes^ but 
as unto traitors, robbers and murderers." 

He destroyed the fort which he had taken and bade good- 
bye to his Indian allies. " I am willing to live longer," said 
an old woman, "for I have seen the French return and the 
2 



26 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Spaniards killed." He did not dare attack the stronger forti- 
fication at St. Augustine, and withdrew just in time. For the 
Spanish king had heard of his expedition and had sent out a 
fleet in pursuit. It did not, however, overtake him. 

A few years after, in 1570, a little Spanish colony was at- 
tempted, by some devoted Jesuits, on the Rappahannock ; but 
these men were killed by the Indians in the first winter. 
Thus was it that the only Spanish stations within the present 
limits of the United States at the end of the sixteenth cent- 
ury were the little colony at San Augustine and the settle- 
ment at Santa Fe, in the valley of the river Del Norte. 

Meanwhile, as early as 1553, there was formed in London 
a mercantile company for western or north-western dis- 
covery. From that period to our own time there was hope 
in England of discovering a passage to China through the 
north of North America. It was not until the year 1853 that 
McClure, an English captain, passed around North America 
from Behring Strait to Baffin's Bay. Before that time Sir John 
Franklin, as we now know, had discovered a passage from 
sea to sea, but he and his crew all died w^ithout carrying 
the news of their discovery to England. Much of McCIure'a 
journey was made on foot on the ice ; but it is now known, 
as it was hoped by the London merchants who formed the 
North-west Company, that the ocean of the Pacific and that 
of the Atlantic unite on the northern shore of the American 
continent. 

In one and another effort to discover this passage various 
expeditions were fitted out for the last half of the sixteenth 
century. In .1583 Walter Raleigh, one of the remarkable 
men of his time, took a warm interest in one of these expe- 
ditions. Humphrey Gilbert, who had won great honor in the 
conquest of Ireland, and as a soldier elsewhere, was put in 
command of a squadron of five ships. They sailed from En- 
gland for a voyage really in quest of gold. But, in very rough 
weather on the dangerous coast of Nova Scotia, they lost their 
largest vessel and were obliged to return to England. Gil- 
bert himself was lost in the Golden Ififid, a vessel of only ten 



COLONY IN CAROLINA. 2/ 

tons burden. He was last seen sitting in the stern of the 
boat, for it was nothing more, with a book in his hand, and 
to the hail of the other vessel answered, " We are as near 
heaven by sea as by land." They were his last words, and 
they have become proverbial. 

Raleigh was not discouraged. He sent out another expe- 
dition in 1584, under Amadas and Barlow, They were di- 
rected to go farther south, and by way of the Canaries and 
the West Indies they made the shore of North Carolina on 
the 4th of July. They landed at an island which they called 
Wocokon. After landing and examining the keys and creeks 
of the neighborhood they were visited by Indians, who were 
friendly, and were cordially received. They were charmed 
with all they saw of the country, with the trees and fruits 
and especially the grapes, the Indian corn, the fish, the game 
and the people. The Indians themselves were not unwilling 
to return to England with them, and two of the natives were 
carried back that they might see the grandeur of the country 
from which the whites had sailed. A large bracelet of North 
Carolina pearls was brought for Sir Walter Raleigh. Such 
success was new in this navigation. 

Queen Elizabeth was interested, and permitted Raleigh to 
give the name of "Virginia" to the country which he had 
discovered, in honor of her own virgin reign. A large expe- 
dition was fitted out next year with the intention of estab- 
lishing a colony, which was put under the charge of Ralph 
Lane. Ralph Lane was a soldier who also had served in Ire- 
land. He thought very highly of himself, but seems to have 
had none of the qualifications of a real leader. Some able 
men, however, went with Lane, the most interesting of whom, 
in after history, are Hariot, a distinguished mathematician, and 
Sir Richard Grenville, who commanded the fleet, and whose 
name is mixed in with all the history of Elizabeth and her 
time. The squadron was three months in crossing the At- 
lantic. In making the coast of North Carolina we now know 
that they made the most dangerous and difficult coast on the 
American shore. But they were not unfortuijate in their 



28 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

landing, and with good hope the colony established itself on 
the island now, as then, known as Roanoke Island. Traces 
of their work may be found on this island to this day. Gren- 
ville returned with the fleet and Lane was left with his men 
for the foundation of the new State. 

It is hard to say whether it was Lane's incapacity or the 
cowardice of his people which prevented the success of the 
colony from which Raleigh had hoped so much. What is 
certain is, that after spending one winter on Roanoke Island, 
and making sundry adventures in travel in the next summer, 
they seized eagerly on the opportunity offered them when 
Drake touched, with a squadron, on their shore, to go home 
to England. Drake offered to leave them a vessel, which 
would have been all that they needed for their success. But 
they were tired of their new home, and departed in confusion, 
"as if they had been chased thence by a mighty army." 

They had hardly been gone a fortnight when Sir Richard 
Grenville arrived with three ships well provided with supplie-;. 
He found no colony there, but left fifteen men to hold pos- 
session and returned. Raleigh, not yet discouraged, sent out 
one hundred and fifty men in the year 1587. The governor 
was John White, who instantly quarreled with the admiral, 
Ferdinando. They did not find the fifteen men whom Gren- 
ville had left. They did find the bones of one man. A part 
of them remained while White returned to England to ask 
for further assistance. Three years after, in 1590, he landed 
again in Virginia with the help which he had promised. But 
the colony had disappeared. On the i8th of August, 1587, 
while White was still with them, a girl, who was christened 
Virginia, was born. She was the first child of English par- 
ents born in the region which we call the United States. Ro- 
mance and art have remembered her name, and it is supposed 
that she grew up to womanhood among the Indians. There 
are tantalizing approaches to some knowledge of this handful 
of people. In a tract written by Strachey he says : " Before 
I have done I will tell you the story of the lost colony." 
And this is the last that is heard of them, for in Strachey's 



CUTTYHUNK ISLAND. 



29 



book, as we now have it, there is no further allusion to 
them. 

Another company of adventurous London merchants sent 
out an expedition under Gosnold, in the year 1602, wlio ex- 
plored the more northern part of the region which we call 
the United States, to 



which the general 
name of Virginia was 
then given. They also 
proposed a settlement, 
and, finding an island 
which was not inhab- 
ited, they established 
themselves there. 
These early adventur- 
ers were all afraid of 
savages, and preferred 
islands, with all their 
inconveniences, for 
their homes. The 
site of Gosnold's set- 
tlement is perfectly 
known. It is a little 
island, unfrequented 
to this day, called Cut- 
tyhunk Island, near 
the mouth of the Buz- 
zard's Bay of our pres- 
ent geography. In a 
lake in this island was 




DISCOV 



a second island, and on this they built their fort, of which eager 
antiquarians can still find some relics. After remaining, how- 
ever, a few weeks, they found they had not sufficient food to 
carry them through the winter, and they returned to England. 
All these unsuccessful efforts, however, led up, even by their 
failure, to the successful enterprise of 1607, which resulted in 
the planting of the present State of Virginia. 



30 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER II. 

Virginia. 

Permanent Settlement of Virginia — John Smith — Trouble in the Colony — 
Smith Taken Prisoner — Pocahontas — New Charter — Decision to Aban- 
don Jamestown — Tobacco — First Cargo of Negroes — Right of Self- 
government — Indian Attack — Arrival of Lord Baltimore — Settlement 
of Maryland — Proprietary Charter — Island of Kent — Loss of Charter 
by Virginia — Change from King to Commonwealth. 

THE first permanent settlement in Virginia was made by 
the London Company in the summer of 1607. Three 
vessels sailed from England on the 19th of December, 1606, 
the largest of but one hundred tons burden, and the others 
much smaller. The colony numbered one hundred and five 
men, and there were no women. Most of the men were so- 
called " gentlemen " with no knowledge of hard work and little 
inclination for it ; there were, however, in the number several 
brave and noble men with spirit to carry through a great en- 
terprise. 

Among them was John Smith, who, then at the age of 
twenty-eight, had already behind him a career of adventure. 
He was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1579. From his 
childhood a roving disposition showed itself in him. At 
thirteen he planned running away to sea. At fifteen he was 
far from home, fighting in the Low Countries. When he came 
back he built himself a hut in the forest. Soon he returned 
to his wanderings on the Continent. He was robbed, nearly 
starved, thrown into the sea from a ship in which he had 
embarked on the Mediterranean, and only saved by 
his own exertions in swimming. He fought the Turks in 
Transylvania, was taken prisoner and sent as a slave to Con- 
stantinople. His mistress, a Turkish princess, fell in love 



JAMESTOWN. 31 

with him, but her brother, in whose charge she placed him, 
employed the Christian favorite to thresh corn for him. 
Smith beat out the master's brains with the flail given him 
for another purpose, put on the clothes of the dead man and 
escaped from the place on his horse, returning to England 
through Europe with new adventures at every turn. 

The rumors about the New World which filled the air and 
occupied every mind at that time were sure to excite the 
ardor of such a man as John Smith. His energy and good 
spirits made him a good leader, but he was impatient of con- 
trol and turbulent. Before the end of the long voyage of 
four months there were discontent and insubordination in the 
little band, to which Smith added no small share. 

The London council, which sent out the colonists, gave 
them their instructions in a sealed box, containing also the 
names of their number who were to be their leaders. This 
led, naturally, to difficulty on the voyage, as they did not 
know whom to obey. All dissensions, all griefs, however, 
were dissipated by the joyful sight of land, and in the best of 
spirits they sailed into Chesapeake Bay on the 26th of April, 
1607, and after seventeen days spent in looking for a suitable 
place to plant the colony, they fixed on the site still known 
as Jamestown, which they so named in honor of their king, 
as they had given the names of his sons Henry and Charles 
to the capes they first saw and sailed between. 

It was May, and lovely weather in a lovely climate. For a 
time all went well. The Indians were at first friendly to 
them and brought them food of all kinds — very grateful to 
them after the short rations compelled by their protracted 
voyage. They received venison, turkeys, Indian corn, and all 
the early berries soon came in perfection. Every body set 
cheerfully to work cutting down trees, making gardens, be- 
ginning the new life with hearty good-Avill. Among the 
directions they found in the box was the order to seek at once 
that entrance to the "South Sea " which all men in those days 
believed to be near the Atlantic shore. An expedition was 
fitted out for this purpose, and pushed as far as the falls on 



32 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the James River, where Richmond now is. But here the ex- 
plorers turned back. Captain Christopher Newport, who 
commanded the little fleet, had now to return with it to En- 
gland. He sailed on the 21st of June, and left the colony 
with no resources outside their own. Their ships were gone 
and they had no chance to withdraw from their situation. 

It was a summer of great hardship. Want of food and 
proper shelter caused illness, increased by the effect of a 
climate different from that at home. There was much dis- 
sension among the leaders and those they led. Edward 
Wingfield had been chosen president from the number ap- 
pointed to be the council. He was now accused of keeping 
for his own use the best of the food, although he says in his 
defense that he "never had but one squirrel roasted, yet was 
that squirrel given " to him. He was deposed, but his suc- 
cessors found it no easier to administer affairs to the satisfac- 
tion of the colony. John Smith was foremost among the 
discontented, but his energy was of the greatest service. He 
gathered supplies from the Indians, who were no longer so 
friendly as at first, and when they refused to trade he compelled 
them to do so by force of arms. The authority long accepted 
for Smith's adventures with the Indians is his own General 
Histoi-y\ in which he describes them in detail. Other writers 
of the time omit some of the features of the story which give 
it the color of romance, and for this reason they are some- 
what discredited. 

Smith was taken prisoner by the Indians. The story is 
that he filled them with amazement by the wonderful things 
he told them about the compass, and by a written letter which 
he sent to the fort. When the answer came back the savages 
looked with wonder upon paper which could speak of itself, 
and began to regard him as a superior being. They dressed 
themselves in their best war-paint and danced before him, 
and men, women and children crowded to see the white man 
with a beard and with clothes on. However, when he was 
brought before the king, Powhatan, it was decided that he 
must be slain. His head was laid upon two great stones, and 



POCAHONTAS. 33 

men stood ready to beat his brains out, when the king's little 
daughter got her arms about his head, " and laid her own upon 
his to save him from death, whereat the king was contented he 
should live to make him hatchets and her bells and beads." 
This was Pocahontas, who could have been but eight or nine 
years old at this time. She was afterward married to an 
Englishman ; not to John Smith, as a fairy tale would have 
had it, but to Mr. John Rolfe. Her name was changed to 
Rebecca, and she went to England, where she was presented 
at court and received much attention as a heroine and an In- 
dian princess. It is said she had been told that John Smith 
was dead. When he was brought to her in London, she cov- 
ered her face with her hands and remained silent for a long 
time. 

Pocahontas, the Lady Rebecca, was baptized into the 
Christian church. She died just as she was about to return 
to her native country, at about twenty-three years of age. 
She left one son, and the Rolfes of Virginia are proud to 
claim her as their ancestress. 

In the autumn of 1608 Smith was made president of the 
colony. He kept it at least from starvation but could pre- 
serve but a feeble life in it. Captain Newport came and 
went, bringing provisions and new colonists ; but these were 
often men of little service in the way of work. The next 
year Smith met with an accident which put an end to his 
career in Virginia. By an explosion of gunpowder he was so 
burned and injured that he had to go to England for surgical 
aid. 

After this he made two voyages to America, but never 
again returned to Virginia. He passed the rest of his life in 
England, and published several books, of which the General 
History of Virginia is one. 

Meantime a new charter was asked and granted for the 
colony, with larger powers and privileges than the first had 
allowed. A fleet of nine ships, carrying five hundred people, 
was dispatched in May, 1609, with Sir Thomas Gates as ad- 
miral, who was to assume supreme command on arrival and 
.2* - ■ ■ . . 



34 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

thus supersede Smith. The fleet was dispersed by a stortti, 
and the admiral's ship was supposed to be lost, for nothing 
was heard of her till the next spring. In May Gates reached 
Jamestown, having spent the winter comfortably at Bermuda, 
where he was cast ashore with his one hundred and fifty com- 
panions. When he arrived in Virginia, of the five hundred 
whom Smith had left at Jamestown six months before only 
sixty were alive. He landed and ordered the bell to be rung as 
a summons to church for all the people who could crawl out 
to welcome him. Service was held in "zealous and sorrowful 
prayer." The whole place was a scene of desolation ; pali- 
sades were torn down, gates were broken off their hinges, 
houses pulled to pieces for fire-wood, because the people were 
afraid to go into the forest for fuel. 

Gates decided that the only thing to do was to abandon 
Jamestown and go to some place out of the way of the 
Indians and within reach of succor from England. The whole 
colony were actually embarked on their vessels, and were wait- 
ing for the ebb-tide, when they were intercepted by tidings of 
the arrival of Lord de la Warre, with three ships and plentiful 
supplies. The colonists turned back, and at night were in 
their old quarters, faint at heart, and with much doubt what 
was to follow. This was the very lowest ebb in the fortunes 
of the little colony on the shore of Virginia. 

The true value of Virginia was now becoming better known 
in England ; the mildness of its climate, the fertility of its soil, 
the value of its products. The colony began at last to achieve 
some degree of prosperity under the judicious management 
of successive rulers. Tobacco began to yield a profitable 
harvest, for the use of it, introduced by Raleigh as a fashion 
at court, had become common throughout England. 

This crop was a source of wealth, and land for it was plen- 
tiful, but the land was useless without laborers. In 1619 
a Dutch ship arrived at Jamestown with a cargo of negroes 
from the coast of Guinea, and they were eagerly welcomed 
at good prices by the planter. 

In the same year, for the first time, the right of self-govern- 



LORD BALTIMORE. 35 

ment was given to the colonists. They were called upon to 
send representatives from each of the towns, hundreds or 
plantations, to meet with governor and council and decide 
upon all matters relating to the colony. The first legislative 
assembly met in the church at Jamestown, on the 3d of 
July, 1619. It consisted of twenty-two representatives, be- 
sides the governor and his council. 

In the spring of 1622 a sudden calamity threatened the 
prosperity of the colony. For years there had been unbroken 
peace with the Indians, and the English had scattered them- 
selves without fear over the country, in free intercourse with 
the natives. Powhatan, the friendly king, was dead, and his 
brother, now the most powerful chief in Virginia, hated the 
English and grudged their existence in the land to which his 
race had an exclusive right. On the morning of the 22d of 
March, with no warning whatever, the savages, instigated by 
the chief, fell upon the whites wherever they found them, 
sparing neither age nor sex, with a horrid joy. The attack 
was chiefly outside of Jamestown, for there the people were 
put upon their guard by a converted Indian, who had been 
urged by his brother to do his part in the massacre. Instead 
of this the Indian told the plot to his master, who hurried 
across the river from his plantation to the town and warned 
the authorities in time for them to arm the place. This saved 
the larger part of the colonists, but within an hour's time 
about three hundred and fifty of them were killed. 

Probably in the spring of 1629, George Calvert, Lord Bal- 
timore, arrived at Jamestown from Newfoundland, where he 
had a colony called Avalon. Discouraged there by the 
hard climate and barren soil, he had come to look for a 
pleasanter spot for his purpose, and he found it on the shores 
of Chesapeake Bay. But the government in Virginia regarded 
him and his project with little favor. Lord Baltimore was a 
Catholic, and his plan was likely to interfere with the freedom 
of religion which the Jamestown colony had hitherto enjoyed. 
The usual oath of supremacy and allegiance was tendered to 
him by them. But they were not sorry when he declined to 



36 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

take it, and they then asked him to take shipping to New 
England by the earliest opportunity. He left their colony, 
but afterward obtained a charter with grant of land around 
the head of Chesapeake Bay, on which (he himself dying in- 
opportunely) his son, Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, planted 
a colony in the year 1634, under the leadership of his brother 
Leonard. The name Terra Marice — Maryland, was given the 
colony in honor of the queen. 

It was a Roman Catholic colony, an asylum for persecuted 
Romanists. Under the charge of Father White and his fellow 
priests it took firm root and flourished. The Virginians heard 
of the new settlement with natural indignation, and their op- 
position grew to open conflict. But the new colony was by 
no means wholly Catholic. Lord Baltimore, to whom the 
powers of the sovereign had been delegated, had aj^parently 
no idea of restricting the emigration, and as a matter of fact 
a strong Puritan party grew up in the new settlement. This 
induced disturbances, of which there were not a few. 

The charter under which Maryland was settled was of the 
kind known as. " proprietary " — that is, the king made over 
his rights to a proprietor in whom was vested power almost 
regal. He was not absolutely to reign over the colonists, but 
to settle with them what sort of government should be estab- 
lished in the same manner that the king would otherwise have 
done. Baltimore does not seem to have done much in this 
respect, but the commission as governor granted to Leonard 
Calvert gave him power to call assemblies, to veto or approve 
laws made by them, and to act as judge. The people, as had 
been the custom in Massachusetts and Plymouth, at first all 
attended the assemblies, but subsequently delegated their 
power to deputies. The customs in this matter were some- 
what curious; we find that any one dissatisfied with the elec- 
tion of deputy from his county was allovved to go and sit 
in the assembly himself, if he so desired, and the proprietor 
had the right to name as many deputies as he chose. Hence 
quarrels arose. More would have arisen had Baltimore been 
more inclined than he was to press Romanism on his colonists. 



MARYLAND. 37 

The Marylanders quarreled with Virginia over the Island 
of Kent, in Chesapeake Bay, where one Clayborne had settled 
himself, to assert the claim of Virginia to the island as well 
as for trade with the Indians. The island was within the 
])oundaries of Calvert's patent. A slight skirmish took place 
and the matter was referred to England. Later on, on the 
outbreak of the civil war at home, disputes arose in Maryland. 
Clayborne seems to have thought that he could gain redress 
from the Parliament which the king had not granted him for 
the Puritans in Maryland, who were opposed to Baltimore on 
principle. Many disturbances took place during the time of 
the Commonwealth, but Baltimore, although a Catholic, was 
able to keep his patent, though with various vicissitudes. 
The Puritans in the colony became very strong, being 
strengthened by accessions from Virginia. On the occasion 
when Stone, the proprietary governor, differed with the Par- 
liamentary Commissioners who had been sent out to subdue 
all the colonies, they sided with the commissioners and 
drove the governor out of the colony. But the home gov- 
ernment upheld Baltimore in his rights, which seem to have 
been all that that tolerant nobleman desired, and his brother, 
Phillip Calvert, was made governor and succeeded in obtain- 
ing the upper hand in affairs. 

There is not much else of importance in this century to 
chronicle in regard to Maryland. The inhabitants pursued 
their own business, and, to their great happiness, did not be- 
come involved in any Indian wars. Curiously enough, though 
the colony was founded by a Roman Catholic, there were, 
toward the end of the century many severe laws against 
papists. Baltimore himself lost all civil rights in his own 
colony. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, however, 
his successor became Protestant, and obtained his full rights 
again. 

To resume our sketch of Virginia: Shortly after the great 
massacre came another misfortune upon the colony. Their, 
charter was taken from them, and they were reduced to un- 
conditional dependence on the king's will. The Virginians. 



38 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

had been by no means backward in resisting sundry oppres- 
sive proceedings of James I., and in revenge for this, or rather 
to take away the possibility of such proceedings in fu- 
ture, a writ of quo warranto was entered against the charier, 
which was declared forfeited. The change was, however, 
more in form than in fact. The royal governor. Sir Francis 
Watt, was retained, and the right of the assembly to meet 
and legislate was not questioned. The Virginia Company 
thus being dissolved, the people asked for a new patent stat- 
ing the form of government. Although no such protection 
was granted, no attempt was made by Charles I., who came 
to the throne at about this time, to deprive Virginia of any of 
her liberties, and in his reign the country flourished and pros- 
pered with little occurring for chronicling. After the great 
massacre no Indian disturbances occurred for twenty years. 
In 1644 another Indian war of small importance broke out, 
but was easily put an end to. The Virginians treated the In- 
dians with very great justice and wisdom, and reaped the 
benefit thereof. 

We may here with advantage take a view of the colony 
now established forty years. Its character was peculiar. Vir- 
ginia is a country of rivers. Innumerable rivers and creeks 
flow into the numerous bays and indentations of the coast 
line. The result of this was that the planters naturally kept 
to the river banks. They scattered all over the country, for 
every-where was there easy access to the sea, so that every- 
where was it easy to dispose of the crops. Thus there was 
not in Virginia that consolidation to be noticed in the north- 
ern colonies ; the state of the country was exactly the reverse. 
The country was filled with very small settlements at some 
little distance from each other, lying at that time almost en- 
tirely between the James and the York rivers. The num- 
ber of inhabitants had at last considerably increased, 
although at first curtailed by the massacres and starvations of 
the earlier years. By the year 1650 there were perhaps 
15,000 people, whites and blacks. This population was 
made up in general of two classes : the rich, well-to-do plant- 



VIRGINIA PROSPEROUS. 39 

fers, and the poorer class of English, often transported for 
crime or sold into the colony as slaves for a term of years. 
There seems to have been no middle class. The colony was 
prosperous and contented as far as its worldly affairs were 
concerned. The houses were not seldom substantial build- 
ings of brick or stone. The soil brought forth abundantly 
not only tobacco, but almost every necessity of life. In 
fact, so much corn was produced that much was exported to 
New England. There was abundance of game in the woods, 
fo that no one need fear want. On the whole there was no 
small reason for the general affection felt by the Virginians 
for their country. 

The change from king to commonwealth was effected with- 
out serious results as far as Virginia was concerned. Not 
that the Virginians were totally indifferent to the change, 
caring little who were their rulers, so they were allowed to 
cultivate their corn and tobacco. Far from it. There was 
in Virginia a very strong Royalist element; so strong that it 
is not infrequently taken as representing the colony. Berkeley, 
the governor, was a stanch old Royalist to the last; but there 
were also many to whom the Puritan ideas in religion were 
not disagreeable, and there were more in whom the spirit of 
independence and freedom had grown to such an extent that 
they welcomed with pleasure the deposition of the Stuarts. 
The first proceedings of Virginia on the execution of Charles 
I. were of a Royalist character, and it seems to have been 
generally thought in England that the colony would serve as 
a Royalist refuge. But upon the arrival of a Parliamentary 
fleet under Dennis the other element was put in power, and 
with the aid of such as were indifferent to either party the 
change was made with no trouble, and the colony was surren- 
dered to the commissioners sent out for that purpose. The 
assembly continued in existence and power, but the old gov- 
ernor was displaced and the commissioners chose a new one. 
Under the new system affairs were carried on with the same 
tranquillity which had marked the previous ten years. The 
principal thing of importance to note at this time was the 



40 HISTORY OP^ THE UNITED STATES. 

passing by Parliament of the Navigation Act, which gave 
form to a colonial policy to which great Britain held until 
the Revolution. The purpose of ihe original act was to keep 
the colonial trade to England, that all the advantages there- 
from might accrue to the mother country. Although the 
navigation acts of later times often aroused much resistance, 
it does not appear that the Virginians offered any objec- 
tions to the operations of this first one, except as far as eva- 
sion may be held to be objection. 



SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND. 4I 



CHAPTER III. 
The Settlement of New England— Ply mcuth. 

English Reformation — The Name Puritan — The Beginning of the Puritans 
— Later Histoiy of the Puritans — Presbyterian Puritans — Brown and 
the Independents — The Puritans go to Holland — Thoughts of Going 
to America — They Set Out — They Anchor at Provincetovvn — A New 
Government — They Land at Plymouth — A Hard Winter — 'J'he Indians 
— Different Settlements — Growth of the Plymouth Colony — Their 
Form of Government. 

TO understand the settlement of New England we must 
have some knowledge of the course of the Reformation 
in England. In that country the reformatory tendencies 
were twofold. In the first place, there w^ere those who desired 
for political reasons, more than religious, to throw off the 
supremacy of the Papal see, and with it various abuses which 
had crept into the Roman Church. In the second, there 
were those who, for purely religious reasons of conscience, 
wished to reform the Church of England into what they 
deemed, from a purely theological stand-point, a purer and 
better Church. To this latter class belonged the Puritans, 
There were many of that stamp who could not be called by 
that name, but the whole of the Puritan body would come 
fairly under our last head. 

The word Puritan is used as the general name for that 
large body of men of very diverse views and opinions, at dif- 
ferent times as well as at the same time, who found it impos- 
sible for them to conform conscientiously to all the usages of 
the Church of England in the period of the Reformation of 
that Church from Romanism to Anglo-Catholicism. The 
name is none of the best, but time and association have given 
it a place in the minds, not to say the affections, of English- 
speaking people that will not easily be filled by any substitute. 



42 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The term did not come into general use until 1566, or there- 
abouts, but by historians it is generally referred back to the 
year 1550. 

Not that the Puritan spirit was not earlier manifested in 
English history. We see elements of the Puritan idea in 
Anglo-Saxon writing, in the writings of Wicklif, and in his 
followers, the Lollards. But the date 1550 is generally taken 
as that of the first " public manifestation of Puritanism as an 
element in church politics." It was in this year that Dr. 
Hooper, on being named Bishop of Gloucester, refused to 
wear the garments prescribed for his consecration by the reg- 
ulations of the Church of England, then being reformed with 
cautious sagacity by Edward, under the advice of Archbishop 
Cranraer. Hooper at first desired to be allowed consecration 
without the garments, relics of popery, as he considered them, 
and, failing this, he wished to be allowed to refuse the bish- 
opric. Neither of these alternatives was allowed. Hooper, 
after argument, persuasion and imprisonment, consented to 
wear the habits at his consecration, and again when he 
preached at court shortly afterward. But except for those 
two times he was allowed to discard them. We may call him 
a Puritan, yet he was a bishop in the Church of England. 
Such a position would have been a strange anomaly ninety 
years afterward, when the Puritans, as a party, were clamoring 
for the abolishment of the episcopal office in the Church. 
Other of Edward's bishops and many of Elizabeth's were 
Puritans of Hooper's type. 

Puritanism afterward appeared in different forms. In 1554 
many English Protestants had fled from their country under 
the Marian persecution and had taken refuge with the Cal- 
vinist churches of the continent. At this time John Knox 
and William Whittingham, under the severe views of the 
Church at Geneva, led some of the more advanced of the 
Puritans in a fierce attack upon the prayer-book used by the 
Church, known as King Edward's prayer-book. Many whom 
we should call Puritans were not in sympathy with this move- 
ment ; for, although they held the same principles as the 



BROWNISTS. 43 

reformers, they were ruled by the stronger desire to see the 
Church of England triumph in its reformation, and were, 
therefore, led to accept what they could not approve. But 
at this time all the Puritans were unwilling to separate from a 
" church where the Word and sacraments were truly preached," 

Later still, when Elizabeth, having been several years upon 
the throne, was seeking to enforce conformity to the church 
of which she was the supreme governor under Christ, a num- 
ber of Puritans felt called upon to separate themselves from 
a church which imposed on them practices which they held 
to be not deducible from Scripture, and, therefore, not to be 
endured, and to form a church independent of it. They 
were known as "Separatists." This was in 1566. 

In 1572 a new element in English Puritanism took a definite 
shape, the desire to convert the Church of England into a 
Presbyterian establishment. Of this movement Cartwright 
is the historical landmark. Presbyterian ism became at once 
a vigorous branch of Puritanism, though it by no means ab- 
sorbed all its strength. Many Puritans were Presbyterians ; 
all Presbyterians were Puritans. But at this time it was a 
minority of the Puritan body which desired a Presbytery. 
Later, in 1642, the Presbyterians made up the greater part of 
the Puritans. 

About the year 1582 Robert Brown set a going a movement 
from which he himself retired, leaving with it as a precious 
legacy a nickname which clung with a stigmatizing hold for 
more than a generation. Brown was an " Independent." 
This word, and the words independence and independency, 
came into our language with him. He separated himself from 
the Establishment, holding (if we can tell exactly what he 
held) that each congregation of the faithful gathered together 
for the worship of God constituted a Church. We must still 
call the Brownists, or Separatists, or Independents, Puritans, 
though in their earlier days they were "a sect of outlaws be- 
yond the pale of ordinary Puritanism." In line after Brown, 
though not allowing themselves to be his followers, came the 
Amsterdam Separatists, from 1603 onward ; the congregation 



44 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

that migrated from Scrooby to Leyden, and from Leyden 
sailed in the Mayfltnver; eventually the Puritans of the Mas- 
sachusetts Bay Company and the new model army of Oliver 
Cromwell. 

But Presbyterians and Independents by no means made up 
all the Puritans from 1572 to 1642. The main body were 
anti-prelatists merely, opposed to many of the usages of the 
Church of England, yet remaining members of that Church, 
bearing the strongest affection for it mingled with a desire for its 
reform in some matters. They desired simply reform in the 
Church, and no such sweeping reform of the Church as was 
urged by Cartwright and Brown. Even of the settlers of 
Boston and Salem many professed their fondest affection for 
the Church of England, and became Independent merely 
because three thousand miles of ocean rolled between them 
and that Church. 

Such were the different stages in the development of En- 
glish Puritanism. It had always for its object one thing: the 
true perception of religious truth without regard to conse- 
quences. Those who could not find it within the Church of 
England were earnest enough to separate themselves from 
that Church, that they might worship God in a manner not 
displeasing to him. Of these Separatist congregations there 
were several toward the end of Elizabeth's reign and the 
beginning of that of James I. One of them was gathered 
at Scrooby, in the north of England, on the borders of three 
counties, York, Lincoln and Nottingham. This Church, gath- 
ered together under the care of John Robinson and Richard 
Clifton, desired nothing save freedom to worship in their own 
way. This was not to be found in England. James I. was 
showing himself by no means lenient witli those who could 
not agree with the Establishment. The Scrooby congrega- 
tion came to the idea that they would give up home, coun- 
try and every thing, for their religion's sake, and emigrate to 
Holland, where, already, some two or three churches had 
sought shelter from English persecution. But even this was 
hardly allowed them. Attempting to escape by night, as 



EMIGRATION TO NEW ENGLAND. 45 

though criminals, they were discovered and prevented A 
second attempt was more successful, and in 1608 the little 
Church found itself in Amsterdam, whence they shortly moved 
to Leyden, the university city of Holland. 

In Leyden they remained twelve years. They lived quietly 
and obscurely, tolerated, and perhaps encouraged, by the 
inhabitants. Each man found some occupation to which he 
might turn his hand to gain a livelihood. But as they saw 
their children growing up to manhood and womanhood in a 
strange country, speaking a strange language, and having but 
little familiarity with that country which they still held d<ear, 
though self-exiled from it — as time went on in this manner, it 
was more and more borne in upon them that it was not the 
will of God that they should gradually subside and become 
amalgamated with the Dutch people around them, but that 
they ought to take some steps whereby they might enjoy the 
freedom of the Gospel and at the same time forward the 
honor and prosperity of their own dear native country, and, 
perchance, be the means of conveying Christianity to the 
heathen of America. They thought of emigrating in a body 
to some part of the New World, where they might be at lib- 
erty to keep pure their primitive form of worship and yet, at 
the same time, live under the shelter and protection of the 
English flag, and contribute by their lives to the glory and well- 
being of their stepmother country. After some discussion 
of the advantages of the valley of the Oronoco, to which 
Raleigh's adventures had called attention, it was hoped that 
they might be able to settle as a separate community on the 
territory of the Virginia Company. 

Negotiations were at once set on foot, and, not to be tedious 
in narrating details, after some hard bargaining with such 
adventurers as were willing to provide funds for the journey, 
and after vain endeavors to obtain a royal charter under which 
they might live and erect some form of government, they at 
last reached the time of departure. All of the Leyden con- 
gregation were not to go. There were many who, for various rea- 
sons, could not find it in their hearts to venture every thing in 



46 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

an untried experiment of settlement in a new world. Indeed, 
these were the majority of the congregation, and, such being 
the case, the pastor of the flock, John Robinson, remained 
at Leyden with those who were left behind, while William 
Brewster, the elder, was to cross the seas with the band of 
exiles. With them went also William Bradford, a man of 
consideration among them, who was afterward for many 
years the governor of their colony, and with them also 
went the soldier, Miles Standish, destined to command thtir 
humble armies and to take charge of such defensive warfare 
as might be necessary in a wild and unknown country. So, 
on August 5, 1620, one hundred and twenty of them, having 
gathered at Southampton, whither they had crossed from Ley- 
den bv way of Defthaven, set sail for America in two vessels, 
the Mayflower and the Speedwell. They had not, however, 
proceeded far l)efore the Speedwell sprung a leak, and it was 
necessary to return for repairs. Having started once again, 
it became evident after some days that the Speedwell was 
unfit for the ocean passage, and that it would be dangerous 
for her to go on. The company was, therefore, divided. Such 
as desired to go back were put on board the Speedwell., which 
returned to England. The rest, one hundred in number, 
went forward in the Mayflower. 

According to the patent granted to them by the Virginia 
Company it had been the intention to settle somewhere to 
the south of Cape Cod. But the shipmaster, having to wrestle 
with unmanageable storms, could do nothing better than to 
land them just inside that cape in what is now the harbor 
of Provincetown. It was thought at the time that he had 
been hired by the Dutch, who were then settled on the Hud- 
son River, to keep this English settlement at some distance 
from them, but there is nothing to show that this was the case. 

Having dropped anchor inside Cape Cod, before leaving 
the ship they took a most decisive step : they created a gov- 
ernment for themselves. Having had no form of government 
prescribed for them by any superior power, being in a new 
land-^as it were, new-born people with, pra.qti^a,llyj UQ author- 



SETTLEMENT OF PLYMOUTH. 4/ 

ity over them save that of the God whom they worshiped — 
they had strength enough to conceive of the simplest form of 
government, founded in truly American principles: the equal 
rights of the people. The document drawn up and signed 
by them on the 15th of November, 1620, is in these words: 

" In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are un- 
derwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, 
King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France 
and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c., having under- 
taken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian 
faith, and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant 
the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these 
presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and 
one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a 
civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, 
and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue hereof 
to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordi- 
nances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as 
shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general 
good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission 
and obedience." 

To this compact every man in the party put his name. It 
is, with reason, regarded with the greatest interest, because it 
is a perfect illustration of a government proceeding from the 
people by their own consent, and it is the first instance in 
history where a government is thus formed, in writing, at one 
time, by the expressed consent of the governed. 

Having thus formed themselves into a body politic they 
set about to find a spot for settlement. After having ex- 
plored a great part of Cape Cod they finally settled upon a 
harbor on the mainland, to which they gave the name 
Plymouth, the last town they had seen in the Old England 
and the first in the New. Here they landed on the nth of 
December (the 21st, according to new style), and here they at 
once set to work to build them houses to shelter them from 
the winter. The Mayflower was to remain with them till 
spring. That winter bore with great severity upon the colony. 
Nearly- one half oi them had perished before the Mt^y flower 



48 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

set out on her return voyage to England. Yet of the few 
who were left not one returned in the ship; not one but was 
strong in the hope of the new plantation. As summer came 
on the hardships ceased. More settlers were brought over, 
and in two or three years the colony was so well established 
that it was no longer a question, when winter came on, as to 
whether there would be any left alive to see the spring, but 
a certain rude prosperity had begun to prevail. 

The colony was, on the whole, fortunate in its connection 
with the natives of the country. It happened that some few 
years before their settlement a great pestilence had passed 
over the tribes of Eastern Massachusetts, thinning their num- 
bers terribly. So the English settlers had but little to fear from 
their strength. Such Indians as there were seemed friendly. 
Their first meeting was of a hostile nature, but shortly after, 
the Pilgrims coming into relations with Massasoit, a firm league 
of friendship was made, which was truly kept. Not that 
there were not occasional disturbances, but the fault of these 
hardly lay with the Plymouth settlers ; for as the years 
passed other English emigrants settled in New England. In 
1622 a settlement was begun by one Weston at a place called 
Wessagusset, about thirty miles to the north of Plymouth, on 
the sea-coast. Some sixty men were landed and remained 
there for two winters; but they were not men of the same 
stamp as the Plymouth settlers, and the plan utterly failed, 
though not before Weston's men had by their unjust treat- 
ment aroused the Indians to hostilities which ; were not 
quelled until Standish had taken the field against them. This 
settlement failed, and so did another, sent out by Captain Wol- 
laston. This latter was made near Quincy, and here it was 
that Morton, of Merrymount, raised his May-pole, and created 
such scandal that all the settlers on the coast banded together 
against him and sent him back again to England; for by 
this time (1625) there were many stray settlers along the New 
England shore. At Cape Ann, as we shall see hereafter, were 
certain West Of England fishermen. Further north, on the 
Piscataqua, were small settlements of a few men, and in one 



BUSINESS ARRANGEMENTS. 49 

or two places were solitary men living at some part or other 
of the coast, of whom we know little more than the name. 
One more scheme for colonization we ought to note. In 
1623 the Plymouth Company, thinking that some effort should 
be made for colonization, fitted out a small expedition under 
Robert Gorges, the son of Ferdinando Gorges, a man much 
interested in American settlement at that time. But this 
plan, like others, came to nothing, and the Pilgrims at Plym- 
outh were practically the only settlers in New England be- 
fore the time of the settlement of Salem and Boston by the 
Massachusetts Bay Company. 

They grew and increased slowly. In the ten years between 
1620 and 1630 their numbers had increased, from the handful 
settled at Plymouth, so that two or three new towns had been 
settled, and their prosperity was, in a simple way, secured. 
They were busied chiefly with agriculture, but carried on 
certain trading operations with the Indians both on the Ken- 
nebec, in what is now Maine, where they came in contact 
with the French, and on the Connecticut, where they found 
the Dutch pioneers. Their political condition had by no 
means fallen from the high standard set at Provincetown. 
They had obtained no charter, and the basis of their govern- 
ment lay in the consent of the governed. A governor and an 
assistants were the executive, while the colony itself met in 
general court to form the legislative body. The magistrates 
of the towns passed judgment on small causes and the more 
important cases were heard before the governor and assist- 
ants, with a jury of colonists. At the time of their starting, 
the funds for the expedition had been provided by cer- 
tain adventurers in London to whom the proceeds of the 
adventure of the colony were to accrue in return for their ad- 
vance. But this arrangement proved unsatisfactory. The 
returns from the colony were small, and the adventurers be- 
came discontented, lost their interest and did little to assist 
the colonists. But in 1627 these adventurers were bought 
out by certain of the leading colonists, and henceforth the 
colonists were debtors to no man save themselves. 
3 



50 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Settlement of Massachusetts. 

The Massachusetts Bay Colony — An Attempt to Colonize Cape Ann — 
Salem — The Charter — Preparations for Further Emigration — The 
Emigrants — They Land at Charlestown — Boston — The Colony Thrives 
— Roger Williams — He Makes a New Settlement — The Pequods — 
Mrs. Anne Hutchinson — More Settlements — Tlie Different Settle- 
ments Make a Confederacy — Missionary Work Among the Indians — 
John Eliot — The Quakers — Position of the Colonies. 

SUCH was the beginning of the settlement of New England. 
The Pilgrims having found no rest for their consciences 
except in separation from the Church of England, and finding 
that such religious worship as seemed to them right was not 
to be tolerated in England, had made their escape to Hol- 
land. But not liking the thought of ending their lives in 
a foreign land, they had sought in New England an oppor- 
tunity for that form of religion which they had found impos- 
sible in England. 

Religious views of much the same nature were influential 
in the steps which led to the settlement of the Massachusetts 
Bay Colony. There were many in England who saw no re- 
ligious or civil freedom in that country, and they turned their 
eyes across the Atlantic imagining that there they should 
at least be free of courts, of high commissioners and of star 
chambers. These were not views of religious liberty, of re- 
ligious freedom, as we use the words. There was no idea of 
liberty of conscience. Pilgrims and Puritans alike crossed 
the Atlantic to worship as they thought right. They had no 
idea, when they found what power was in their hands, of 
allowing indiscriminate freedom of worship. It is well to bear 
this in mind throughout any study of New England history. 
But it was not from religious causes alone that the movement 



SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS. 5 1 

sprung which resulted in the settlement of Salem and Bos- 
ton. 

The West of England men had for some time adventured 
in the New England fisheries, which they found profitable. 
But the ships made each cruise from England and returned 
thither each year with their " catch." The only landings they 
made in New England were for the purpose of drying their 
fish, that they might bring it safely home with them. It oc- 
curred to the Rev. John White, of Dorchester, a famous Pu- 
ritan divine (who had other views in mind as well), that it 
would be no bad plan to form a company, which should settle 
a few men at some convenient point on the New England 
shore, who should be able to assist the fishing crews by pro- 
viding quarters for the sailors when on shore, and gain 
supplies by hunting and planting. It was also held that some 
religious influence might be brought to bear on the mariners. 
A company was formed, known as the Dorchester Advent- 
urers, which at once sent out, in the year 1623, an expedi- 
tion which made a settlement on Cape Ann. But no success 
followed; in fact, everything went wrong ; and in three years' 
time the colony was abandoned by all the settlers save four 
— Roger Conant, Peter Palfrey, John Balch and John New- 
bury. At the earnest solicitation of the Rev. John White these 
four men remained, to be reinforced by new settlers. Mr. 
White, with the greater number of the English Puritans, 
looked on New England as a possible refuge from unbearable 
persecutions, and to him it seemed of importance that any 
foothold once made should be retained. 

The Dorchester Company had evidently failed ; but there 
were others interested. Puritans all over the country began 
to consider whether it might not be possible to make some- 
thing of this opportunity. In London the matter was dis- 
cussed from a commercial as well as a religious stand-point, 
and there were many who thought that here was a scheme 
which deserved assistance. By such means funds to a con- 
siderable amount were collected, and the right man appear- 
ing at that moment, John Endicott by name, he was named 



52 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

as governor of the new party which was to reinforce the rem- 
nant at Cape Ann. A patent was obtained from the " Grand 
Council for New England," and in the summer of 1628 a 
considerable party was sent out, which formed a settlement 
at Naumkeag, whither Conant and the others had removed. 
The colony, consisting of about sixty persons, settled them- 
selves here for the winter, and gave the name of Salem, the He- 
brew word for peace, to their habitation. 

In England the enterprise became further enlarged. 
Certain from Boston, in Lincolnshire, joined themselves to it, 
and the company was incorporated and obtained a royal 
charter under the name of the " Governor and Company of 
the Massachussetts Bay in New England." Matthew Cradock 
was named in the charter as governor. The idea was like 
that of the other trading companies: a governing body in En- 
gland was to oversee and direct the proceedings of such set- 
tlements as might be made in the New World. 

The constitution of the company was as follows: Certain 
persons were named in the charter as constituting the com- 
pany and were given power to join to themselves such as they 
deemed proper. These " freemen " were to elect their gov- 
ernor and deputy and eighteen assistants, who were to form 
a sort of executive board for the transaction of all busi- 
ness which could not well come before the whole company at 
its stated meetings, which were to occur four times a year. 
The oaths of supremacy and allegiance might, not must, be 
administered to freemen by the governor, deputy, and two 
assistants. The company had power to transport settlers, 
who might be settled anywhere within the territory allowed ; 
namely, a tract of land extending from a line drawn three 
miles north of the Merrimac River to another three miles 
south of the Charles, and from the Atlantic to the South Sea. 
Within this territory the company had power to establish such 
offices as they deemed necessary and to take such steps as 
were necessary for the planting and defense of their settle- 
ment. Nothing was said of religion or religious matters. The 
company was strictly forbidden to do any thing inconsistent 



SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS. 53 

with the laws of England. Such was the main purport of 
the charter. 

It was intended for the organization and use of a trading 
company, but it proved entirely sufficient for the government 
of a colony, and it was under this charter that Massachusetts 
lived for fifty-five years. The charter having been obtained 
a reinforcement was sent to Salem. The greater number of 
the patentees were Puritans, and the character of the settle- 
ments was of the same nature. Two Puritan ministers, 
Skelton and Higginson, were sent out, and every thing went 
well. Thus far the governing body was in England, and the 
colony sent out by them had little character save that of a 
trading or fishing station. The next year, however, an im- 
portant change was made. 

The charter made no stipulations as to where the meetings 
of the company were to be held. It had probably been 
always in the minds of the principal members of the com- 
pany to make of their settlement an asylum for religious per- 
secution, although no such idea was openly mentioned. Cut 
circumstances forced them on. The state of affaiis in En- 
gland was such that many Puritans made up their minds that 
they could no longer remain in the country. A large num- 
ber of the company resolved to emigrate. It was decided to 
take the charter to New England with them; to hold the 
meetings of the company there, and so to secure a far greater 
measure of self-government than could have been otherwise 
hoped for. Certain proposals to that end were read before 
a meeting of the company, a number of gentlemen pledged 
themselves to emigrate if an arrangement could be made 
whereby the charter might be transferred to America, and a 
new board of officers was chosen. John Winthrop was elected 
governor, and Humphrey, who was afterward replaced by 
Thomas Dudley, deputy; for neither Cradock nor Humphrey 
proposed to emigrate. Measures were at once adopted for 
carrying through the new plan. This was in the summer and 
fall of the year 1629. 

On April 7, 1630, preparation having been diligently made 



54 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

throughout the winter, John Winthrop and his company, 
numbering about seven hundred persons, set sail in eleven 
ships for New England. The expedition was one of greater 
importance and moment in the eye of the world than the 
humble voyage of the Mayflower^ but history does not make 
such a distinction. The leaders in the enterprise were per- 
sons of consideration. John Winthrop was a man of good 
family and of some property, bred to the law and accustomed 
to the best society in England. Dudley had been stew- 
ard of the estates of the Earl of Lincoln. Johnson, one of 
the assistants, was the son-in-law of the same nobleman. 
Theophilus Eaton had been at one time minister to Denmark. 
Vassar, Bradstreet and Saltonstall were men of family and 
estate. Many of the emigrants were graduates of the uni- 
versities. Though by no means the highest persons of the 
realm, they were persons of reputation and estate, of intelli- 
gence and education. Added to this, they were ruled by 
steady and sincere religious purposes. They were mem.bers 
of the Church of England, and in their parting address, Avhile 
asking prayer and good wishes for the success of their under- 
taking, they spoke of their necessary separation from the 
country where that Church '' specially resideth, with much 
sadness of heart and many tears." 

After a passage of about nine weeks the Arbella, the chief 
ship (named after the Lady Arbella Johnson, wife of one of 
the assistants), anchored in Salem harbor and was shortly 
after joined by the rest of the fleet. After a short stay at 
Salem they proceeded to pitch upon a place of settlement, 
and in the end of June they landed at Mishawum, shor ly 
after called Charlestown, and settled at that place. Many 
of them subsequently moved across the Charles River to the 
Peninsula of Shawmut, to which the name Boston was after- 
ward given, in recollection of the town in Lincolnshire from 
which many of them had come. Others settled near at hand, 
some in Newtown, afterward Cambridge, and at Dorchester, 
Roxbury and Watertown. In each town the settlers at once 
entered into church covenants. On August 23 the first court 



FREEDOM OF OPINION. 55 

of assistants was held, and in October was held the first gen- 
eral court at Boston, to which many of the settlers had moved 
from Charlestown in search of a good supply of water. The 
colony was well and fairly started. 

Such was the beginning of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; 
perhaps the best instance of the working out of the Puritan 
ideal of a State, although at this time the ideals of the found- 
ers may not have been well rounded. As time went on the 
details were more thoroughly elaborated, and through a 
period of thirty years we may trace the rise of what we may 
call the Puritan Ideal Commonwealth. The basis of the 
structure was implicit obedience to the law of God in all 
things. Government and morals, in private life as well as 
public, were ordered by the rule of the Scriptures. For 
thirty years the colony of Massachusetts, being allowed to do 
much as it pleased, strengthened itself on this basis. The 
Commonwealth was purged and purified by the casting out 
of Roger Williams, Mrs. Hutchinson, the Quakers, and such 
others as dissented from the general opinions of the people. 
It was strengthened by its geographical enlargement and by 
its victories over the Indians, whom it subsequently received 
as children for religious teaching. Its freedom of outside in- 
terference was in many ways asserted. The rise of this ideal 
continued for thirty years. After that time we see its grad- 
ual downfall, beginning with the restoration of Charles II. 
and culminating in the usurpation of Andros and the pro- 
vincial charter. 

The colony, being once begun, grew rapidly. In about ten 
years all emigration from England had ceased; but even by 
this time the growth had been large, both geographically and 
in population. The settlers had pushed inland, up the rivers 
and into the country. They had also spread up and down the 
coast. In 1640 they numbered perhaps fifteen times the thou- 
sand which had come with Winthrop and before. 

The first instance of the colony's strengthening itself 
against itself, of which other instances will occur, was in the 
expulsion of Roger Williams. Williams was a young clergy- 



56 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

man who settled first at Boston and then at Salem, whose 
views seemed to his brother ministers and to many of the 
people harmful and dangerous. He was expostulated with 
quietly at first, and then with nlore vigor. Being found ob- 
durate he was banished. It is not for our purpose necessary 
to consider whether his views were or were not absolutely 
more correct than those of his persecutors. The point is 
that the will of the colony resolved to assert itself, and to en- 
force that conformity which they thought necessary, in much 
the same way that Archbishop Laud had attempted to en- 
force the conformity he thought necessary. Other things in 
the colony pointed in the same direction. The franchise was 
allowed only to church members, and church members were 
admitted only on satisfactory proof of the orthodoxy of their 
views and lives. 

As for Roger Williams, he traveled through the forests in 
the winter, and coming out of the Massachusetts patent and 
to the head of Narragansett Bay he purchased land of the 
Indians, to whom he was not unknown, and with a few friends 
settled a town to which he gave the name of Providence. 
Instead of following, the example of his Massachusetts neigh- 
bors, who having fled from intolerance in England would 
have no toleration in America, he and those with him allowed 
the widest liberty of conscience to those who might choose 
to join them. In another direction also did the settlers 
spread, though not for like reasons. The inhabitants of the 
towns near Boston, finding themselves cramped for room for 
all their cattle, turned their eyes to the rich meadows of the 
Connecticut River, and in the year 1634 they crossed the 
country and settled in three towns on that river. The next 
year they were joined by others, and being outside of the 
bounds of the Massachusetts and Plymouth patents they set 
up a government for themselves, resembling in character, as 
was natural, that of the jurisdictions they had left. 

For the first few years after the settlement of Massachusetts 
there were no Indian troubles, but with the settlement of 
Connecticut the colonists came in contact with the Pequods, 



MRS. HUTCHINSON. 57 

a tribe which inhabited the southern part of New England, 
and Indian outrages finally led to what was known as the 
Pequod war. Massachusetts and Connecticut banded to- 
gether against their savage foes. The Pequods strove to 
form an alliance with the Narragansetts, but the Narragan- 
sett chieftains were deterred froni war by the counsels of 
Roger Williams, who thus found an opportunity of returning 
good for evil. The Pequods, left alone to cope with the En- 
glish, who were joined by the Mohegans, a tribe of Connect- 
icut Indians, were utterly destroyed. The English made an 
expedition into their country, captured and burned their chief 
town, and pursued the scattered remnants of the tribe, and 
thus the Pequod nation was removed from the face of New 
England. 

The danger from without was no sooner removed than 
Massachusetts was threatened from within. More unorthodox 
views appeared, emanating from Mrs Anne Hutchinson, the 
brilliant wife of a considerable merchant of Boston. The 
people, keenly alive to religious controversy, arrayed them- 
selves on the different sides. Mrs. Hutchinson found coun- 
tenance in Mr. John Wheelwright, the minister of Braintree, 
her brother-in-law, in John Cotton, one of the ministers of 
the church at Boston, and in Henry Vane, the young gov- 
ernor of the Commonwealth. But the clergy of the colony 
were almost unanimous against her, and the congregations in 
general followed their pastors. Vane also left the colony for 
England before affairs had come to a crisis. Mrs. Hutchin- 
son and Mr. Wheelwright were tried and banished, and their 
adherents lost their civil rights. The colony had once more 
purified itself, and strengthened itself in its aspirations toward 
the ideal in the minds of its chief men. 

Mrs. Hutchinson and many of those who thought as she 
did removed from Massachusetts Bay, and, purchasing of 
the Indians the largest island in Narragansett Bay, they set- 
tled there. They made but a turbulent settlement for a time, 
quarreling with each other, separating and joining again. 

Mrs. Hutchinson subsequently moved to Long Island, where 
3* 



58 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

she was some little time after murdered in an Indian war, 
Gorton planted Warwick, in Rhode Island, in 1642. Wheel- 
wright, on leaving Massachusetts settled a few miles from 
its northern line at what is now Exeter, in the State of New 
Hampshire. There were other settlements here on the Pis- 
cataqua River, notably Dover and Strawberry Bank. New 
Haven was also settled at about this lime by a party of strict 
Puritans coming from England under Davenport. They set 
up a system of government even more rigid than that of 
Massachusetts. The Bible, and more particularly the Old 
Testament, was taken as the guide for all things. The new 
colony prospered, and was able to send out settlers along Long 
Island Sound and also inland. Connecticut also had ex- 
tended up and down the Connecticut Valley. 

There were in the year 1642 more than twenty-five thou- 
sand English inhabitants in New England. They were gath- 
ered together in separate jurisdictions and scattered all over 
the country. Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New 
Haven were the most considerable of the governments. 
There were three separate groups in Rhode Island, and along 
the New Hampshire and Maine shore was a scattered string 
of settlements, subject to no government at all. The chief 
men in the leading colonies saw a need of some union. The 
French and the Dutch were possible enemies on the north and 
the south ; the Indians were always at the border. The four 
chief colonies joined themselves into a confederacy for mutual 
offense and defense. The Rhode Island settlements and the 
few towns to the north were refused admittance, for the spirit 
of their government was by no means in keeping with the 
Puritan ideal. The Confederacy was loose in its nature — that 
is, the individual colonies delegated to the general govern- 
ment certain powers in peace and war, but reserved to them- 
selves the care of their own internal affairs. Two commis- 
sioners from each colony made up the governing body of the 
Nevv England Confederation, forming a board both executive 
and legislative in its nature. The great difficulty in the case 
lay in the great preponderance of Massachusetts, which, hav- 



ELIOT AND MAYIIEW. 59 

ing almost twice as many inhabitants as all the other three 
colonies put together, would be likely to assert a superiority 
which was by no means in keeping with the ideas of the smaller 
colonies in the matter. The articles of confederation gave 
equal power to all four members. But, as it proved, Massa- 
chusetts was continually endeavoring to overstep the bounds 
of that instrument, and thereby endangering the existence of 
the union. Although the confederation lasted for twenty- 
three years, there was much disagreement, owing to the over- 
bearing, though highly excusable, behavior of the Massachu- 
setts colony. 

We should by no means give a fair view of the growth of 
the colonies if we omitted mention of the missionary work 
done among the Indians. As the Massachusetts colony grew 
too strong to fear any danger from the red men, she gradually 
assumed the position of mother over them as far as their 
religious welfare was concerned. The story of the labors of 
her earnest ministers among the Indians is the most pathetic 
episode to be found in the history of the colony. The pict- 
ure of the stern Puritans, their hearts reaching out in pity 
for the wretched spiritual 'condition of these poor heathen, 
and endeavoring in their own hard and bungling way to do what 
needs all the sympathy and tenderness that human nature is 
capable of, gives us a half-inspiring, half-melancholy view of 
the character of the Puritan ideal, which should be taken into 
consideration when we think of some of its blacker qualities. 
No idea of their fond hopes and longings in this direction 
can be gained better than that got from the quaint names of 
the little pamphlets which described their struggles and 
reverses and their humble successes. " The Day Breaking 
if not the Sun Rising," comes first ; next in order are "Clear 
Sunshine " and the "Glorious Sunshine." 

The first efforts were made by Thomas Mayhew, who, in 
1644, went to work among the Indians in Martha's Vineyard. 
In 1646 John Eliot made his first attempt. Assembling cer- 
tain of the Indians be went among them on Sunday after- 
noons with some friends, and preached and prayed with them 



6o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and endeavored to answer such questions as they might ask. 
The Indians were interested, and sometimes would ask such 
questions as puzzled the worthy divine. Others were con- 
tumacious. "Who made sack.''" asked one on hearing of 
the powers of the Creator. For years the work went on. 
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was formed in 
England. An Indian college was established at Harvard, for 
the training of ministers who might carry the Gospel to their 
own people. Eliot translated the Bible into the Indian lan- 
guage. Later the "praying Indians," as they were called, 
were gathered together into towns, and Daniel Gookin was 
chosen to be ruler over them. Progress was slow, but the 
generous men hoped greater things and had faith. But their 
hopes were destined to remain unfulfilled. In 1672 there 
were among the Indians fourteen towns and two churches, 
and eleven hundred " souls yielding obedience to the Gos- 
pel." But the number declined. Ten years afterward there 
were but four praying towns, and afterward the numbers 
rapidly declined. In Plymouth, too, the work was not pro- 
ductive of more lasting results. But the movement must be 
remembered as showing a bright side to the Puritan char- 
acter. 

We must, however, now take up a darker topic. We have 
seen how zealous were the inhabitants of Massachusetts for 
purity of religious thought as they understood it. Roger 
Williams and Mrs, Hutchinson are examples of the colony's 
purging itself of such evil elements. In the same line is the 
episode of the Quakers. These people, rising into notice 
in England through their sincere if eccentric views, were 
attracted to New England by the idea borne in upon them 
that it was necessary for them to bear their testimony to a 
people where the inner light, as they esteemed it, was not 
permitted to shine. They courted persecution and received 
it. The punishment of one drew many. The rulers of the 
colony looked on their appearance with the same disfavor 
with which they beheld all other difference with their relig- 
ious opinions. Holding strongly to their idea of what was 



INDEPENDENCE. 6l 

right, they could not in that age see with complacency the 
spread of religious views Opposed to them. For the sake of 
the souls committed to their hands they could not remain 
still. The Quakers were whipped, mutilated and banished. 
They returned again and again. Persecution only served to 
strengthen their desire to bear their testimony against such 
unrighteousness. At last four of them, on returning to Mas- 
sachusetts after repeated banishment, were hanged. Even 
the most extreme measures were better than the spread of 
heresy; such was the opinion of Endicott, then governor 
and of Norton. But they had gone in this too far, and pop- 
ular sentiment forbade the continuance of such harshness. 
The Quakers conquered. 

We must look at both sides in considering the Puritan 
proceedings against the Quakers. We must not content our- 
selves with saying that the Puritans were bigoted and fanat- 
ical. We must acknowledge also that it appeared to them 
that the presence of the Quakers endangered the structure 
of that Commonwealth to sustain which they held to be 
their highest duty in the sight of God, before which all other 
considerations were not to be thought of for a moment. 
Undoubtedly the Puritans were harsh, bigoted, fanatical, cruel. 
They were also earnest, sincere, religious, and firm to their 
idea of right. 

The Quaker invasion of Massachusetts shows us the Pur- 
itan Commonwealth at its height. The State was founded on 
the law of God. None but truly religious persons had a 
hand in shaping its course. It had spread over the country 
and had prospered largely in its planting and its commerce. 
Having overcome its Indian neighbors it was endeavoring to 
raise this wretched people into a better state. And it had 
never hesitated to purge itself in the harshest manner in order 
to keep pure those doctrines on which rested the whole 
foundation of the State. 

It may seem curious that a mere colony should have been 
able to place itself in such a position. In truth, the colony 
had, up to this time, been virtually independent of England. 



62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The people had defied the English power when their charter 
was demanded. They had refused to allow the English flag 
to be spread over their towns. They administered justice in 
the name of God and not in that of the king. They coined 
money themselves. They had denied the right of appeal to 
England from the judgments pronounced by their own courts. 
They paid her no taxes. In a word, they were and for some 
years had been practically an independent State. To appre- 
ciate this clearly we must recall to mind some of the chief 
events of English history since the settlement of Boston in 
1630. 



PHILIP'S WAR. 63 



CHAPTER V. 
Phil ip's "War. 

King Philip's War — Suspicions of Plymoutli Colony — Indian Alarm at 
Swansea — Neutrality of Narragansett — Danger in Connecticut — Mas- 
sachusetts — Troops March for Rhode Island — Defeat of Narragansetts 
— Burning of Lancaster — Burning of Marlboro — Battle in Pawtuxet — 
Critical Contest. 

THE most critical incident in the first century of New 
England life was that of Philip's war. Philip was an 
Indian chief, whose native name was Metacom or Metacomet. 
He was one of two sons of Massasoit, the early friend of the 
Plymouth colonists, at whose request the famous names Al- 
exander and Philip had been given to these two young men, 
with fit explanations as to the greatness of the Greek chief- 
tains who had formerly borne them. Alexander was the 
older of the two, but he died not long after his father, and 
Philip succeeded to such rights and power as he had, as 
sachem of his tribe. 

Rightly or wrongly, the heads of the Plymouth colony very 
early suspected Philip of intriguing against them with the 
Dutch of New York, who were always feeling their way along 
Long Island Sound. It was even thought tha,t Philip com- 
municated with the more distant French on the northern and 
western frontier. Between the valley of the St. Lawrence 
and the settlements in Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
there was a wild wilderness region, only used by the Indians 
as a hunting-ground. But there were paths through it, per- 
fectly well known; the distance is not great, and a dread was 
felt even then of a possible invasion from Frenchmen, a dread 
which another generation fully justified. 

Philip himself, once and again, tried to persuade the people 



64 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of Plymouth that they did him injustice. He came to one 
and another quite important conference with them and gave 
securities of different kinds that should bind him to keep the 
peace with them and others. But they never lost sight of 
him, and it would seem that their leaders never ceased to 
suspect him. Meanwhile he gained more influence among 
his own people than any other chieftain known to us, at any 
period of New England history. 

For many years there was thus a sensitive feeling between 
the Plymouth colonists and Philip, and this sensitive feeling 
extended to a less degree into the Massachusetts Colony. 
The bolt fell at last in June, 1675. In that year and the 
next the colonists of New England fought, as they believed, 
for their lives and their very existence against the Indians, 
who were thoroughly aroused to making every effort in their 
power. It is curious novv to observe that this was just a 
hundred years before the great struggle which resulted in the 
independence of the United States. But when that struggle 
came, men were so engaged in the crisis itself that thus far no 
one has found in the history of 1775 any allusion to the fact 
that, in the marshaling of men, they were celebrating the 
centennial anniversary of the most critical moment in the 
history of their infant State. 

On the 2istof June, 1675, Winslow, the Governor of Plym- 
outh, sent a letter by express to Leverett, the Governor of 
Massachusetts Bay, to say to him that the Indians had 
alarmed the people of Swansea, and that they had retreated 
to their block house. Swansea was a frontier town on the 
edge of Rhode Island. The Massachusetts Council assembled 
at once and sent delegates to the Narragansetts, with whom 
they were in alliance, ordering them not to come into any 
league with Philip. They at once ordered the militia of 
Boston and the neighboring towns to draft a hundred able- 
bodied soldiers for an expedition, and these men were sum- 
moned to meet at six in the evening on the 25th of June. On 
the next day Dennison was appointed their commander, and 
under Captain Henchman and Captain Prentiss they marched 



DANGER AT SWANSEA. 65 

south against what enemy they might find. Meanvvliile the 
Plymouth men had sent a body of troops to protect Swansea, 
and on the 24th, 25th and 26th days of June the first blood 
was shed by the Indians, who killed five or six persons. It 
will be difficult now to say how far the Nipmucks and the Nar- 
ragansetts at first engaged in the controversy. They declared 
that they were innocent of any complicity, but public opin- 
ion in New England at that time was sternly and bitterly 
against all Indians, and the declaration of these men was 
never received as any thing but a blind. Boston at once 
raised eight companies of troops, and in all eight hundred 
and fifty men were called out to suppress the rising of the 
Indians, whatever it might be. 

Whatever had been Philip's plans, he was alarmed by the 
rallying of the forces of Massachusetts and of Plymouth. 
Almost immediately after the affair at Swansea, Mendon, in 
the western part of the Massachusetts Bay settlements, was 
attacked by some Nipmuck Indians. This was a tribe dif- 
ferent from the tribe of which Philip was the immediate chief. 
The colonists of both colonies were satisfied that a general 
movement was attempted against them. Hutchinson, with 
twenty troopers, went on an errand of peace to meet a great 
party of Nipmucks at Brookfield. He did not find them at 
the place agreed upon. Going farther in search of them he 
fell into an ambuscade, was wounded himself, and eight of 
his party were killed. This was an evidence that the Nip- 
mucks meant serious war. Hutchinson's party retreated to 
Brookfield, where they were at once besieged and were in 
great danger. But they were relieved by a party of forty- 
seven horsemen under Willard. Philip at once came across 
to the Nipmucks and congratulated them on their successes. 
From this time certainly his tribe and the Nipmucks were 
allies. 

The Narragansetts, however, had bound themselves to re- 
main neutral in this contest. When, in September, commis- 
sioners from the colonies of Massachusetts and New England 
and Plymouth met they still hoped that the Narragansetts 



66 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

were not their enemies. They agreed to raise a thousand 
soldiers for a war which " had been in the first rise a defen- 
sive war, but must now, like other wars, be a war of attack as 
well as defense." It is supposed that at this time the num- 
ber of colonists in New England and the number of Indians 
was about equal. The Indians were acquainted with fire- 
arms, and, through the whole contest which followed, had 
little difficulty in providing themselves with ammunition. 

The commissioners of the colony held a session almost con- 
tinuous through the weeks of a sad and anxious autumn. The 
inhabitants of the frontier villages up and down the Connect- 
icut Hved in danger, and one after another was abandoned. 
The head-quarters of the Massachusetts men were at Hadley. 
A party of them was sent to Deerfield, which had been aban- 
doned, to bring in the grain which the settlers had left there. 
This party was under Lothrop. They succeeded in their 
immediate object and proceeded on their return with the grain 
and some furniture of the inhabitants, marching slowly, while 
their rear was protected by a company under Mosely. At 
about seven o'clock in the morning of the i8th of September, 
as they stopped to gather grapes at " Bloody Brook," as the 
place has been called ever since, they were assailed by Ind- 
ians, and all but seven or eight were killed. The company 
was known as the " Flower of Essex," being a body of picked 
men from this county on the seashore. Mosely heard the 
firing, marched to relieve his comrades and was able to carry 
away the wounded. He buried the dead and retired on 
Hadley. After this attack Springfield, Hadley, Northamp- 
ton and Hatfield were the only towns which the English 
held on the Connecticut River. These towns v.-ere attacked 
once and again, but after October there were no serious at- 
tacks, and it was supposed that the Indians had fallen back 
upon the Narragansetts. From this time the commissioners 
believed no longer that the Narragansetts were their friends. 

It seems probable that the success of the Nipmucks on the 
Connecticut River emboldened them. At first they had 
affected a willingness to give up the hostile Indians whom 



OVERTHROW OF THE NARRAGANSETTS. 6/ 

they were protecting. But when the day for the surrender 
arrived they failed to keep their promise. The commission- 
ers at once determined to raise an additional force of a thou- 
sand men to fight against the Narragansetts. They gave the 
Narragansetts fair notice of this, intimating that they must 
make reparation for damages in the past, with security for 
future fidelity. On the 9th of December the Massachusetts 
troops marched for Rhode Island. They were joined by two 
companies from Plymouth, five from Connecticut, and fifty 
allies from the Mohegans. Governor Winslow took the com- 
mand at the place known as Pettyquamscot, where the En- 
glish had their farthest garrison. They knew that the Nar- 
ragansetts were to be found at their fastness eighteen miles to 
the westward. 

This place is singularly well adapted for the necessities of 
savage warfare. It reminds one of the points described in 
the life of King Alfred of England as the strongholds of the 
Saxons against the Danes, or the Danes against the Saxons. 
An island of five or six acres is surrounded by a large swamp, 
which can only be approached on certain artificial causeways. 
On the inner side of this swamp the Indians had driven rows 
of palisades, and the only entrance between these palisades was 
a rude bridge four or five feet from the ground and water. This 
bridge was protected by a block house. The English force 
attacked on the 19th of December. They had marched from 
their block house at five in the morning. They had spent 
the night without shelter under the open sky. Their march 
of eighteen miles was through wet snow, and they arrived at 
the savage fortress at one in the afternoon. There was no 
opportunity for stategy. The place must be taken by storm 
if taken at all. Accordingly they stormed in column over the 
bridge. Johnson, of Roxbury, was shot at the head of his 
company. Davenport, of Boston, entered the inclosure only 
to be killed. Gardner, of Salem, a third captain, and two of 
the Connecticut captains were killed at once. Bradford, a 
major of Plymouth, was wounded. Mason, another Connect- 
icut captain, was wounded, and died of his wounds in a few 



68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

days. These losses of officers show how close was the 
conflict. But the English were all lost if they did not keep 
on. They continued the conflict for two or three hours. It 
is said that they once drove their assailants out of the fort, 
and that they rallied and regained their ground. But as the 
day closed the English held it in triumph. They finished 
their work by setting fire to the wigwams inclosed in the fort. 
Of the thousand men who joined in the attack seventy were 
killed and a hundred and fifty wounded. With the loss of 
the wigwams they had no place left them for shelter. They 
did not dare spend the night in the open air with their 
wounded, and in anew storm of snow they marched back to the 
town of Wickford, where they found shelter in Smith's plan- 
tation. 

By this summary act the force of the Narragansetts was com- 
pletely broken. It was thought at the time that Philip was in 
the action, but it afterward proved that this was not true. 

Not many weeks passed before Lancaster, a town only 
thirty-five miles west from Boston, which had nearly three 
hundred inhabitants living in fifty houses, was attacked at 
sunrise and, excepting two fortified houses, was burned. The 
house of Rowlandson, the minister, became a fortress, in 
which several of the people took refuge. Twelve of them 
were killed and only one of them escaped, and the rest of 
them were taken captives. Mrs. Rowlandson, with her daugh- 
ter, a child of six years old, was among these. The child 
died after some days, but the mother remained with the sav- 
ages for three months. She was then ransomed for twenty 
pounds and joined her husband. Her narrative is one of the 
most interesting accounts which we have of these calamities, 
and shows, better, perhaps, than any other authority we can 
consult, the nature of the life of the New England Indians of 
that time. The town of Marlboro was the next to suffer, on 
the 26th of March; and at the same time, in a battle in Paw- 
tuxet, fifty Englishmen and eight Indians were killed by a 
party of Narragansetts. On the same day several of the En- 
glish, who were going to Springfield to divine service, fell into 



turner's falls. 69 

ambush and were killed. Through the spring and summer of 
1676 such predatory warfare was carried on, and ten or 
twelve towns more were wholly or partially destroyed. The 
warfare continued in the Narragansett country and on the 
western frontier of Massachusetts. At last, on the i8th of 
May, Turner, of Boston, in command of an English force, 
heard of a large party at the falls of the river Connecticut 
which now bear his name, and with a party of nearly two 
hundred men surprised them at daylight. Three hundred of 
the Indians perished. The English lost only one man. But 
in Turner's retreat, for he did not dare to hold his position, his 
column was surrounded and he was himself killed, with more 
than forty of his men. Emboldened by this success the In- 
dians attacked Hatfield and fired several buildings. But the 
garrison was relieved from Hadley and the Indians driven 
away. 

A little after, Talcott, with a considerable English force, 
attacked a strong Indian force and routed them, and after 
this experience the western frontier of Massachusetts was 
comparatively free from danger. On the whole, the cam- 
paign had been disadvantageous to the Indians. In Plymouth 
a large number of them surrendered. Toward midsummer, 
however, Philip was heard of, and it was evident that he was 
proposing to attack Taunton, in the southern part of eastern 
Massachusetts. Strong parties were sent against him, and 
his own men failed to support him. Church, a successful 
Indian fighter, pressed him close, and in the immediate neigh- 
borhood of Mount Hope, which had always been recognized 
as Philip's head-quarters, the king met his fate. A friendly 
Indian, who had been named Alderman, was stationed with 
an Englishman at a point where it was thought the fugitives 
must pass, when they saw Philip running. The Englishman's 
gun missed fire ; the Indian's took effect. A bullet passed 
through the heart of the chief and he fell dead with his gun 
under him. Although other outrages followed, with the death 
of Philip the war came substantially to a close. 

The contest was critical. The colonists fought for their 



70 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

existence. Almost every able-bodied man was under arms, 
and it has been estimated that one tenth of their soldiers were 
killed. It is to be observed that in the whole struggle their 
governments made no appeal to England. They did not ask 
for a single soldier, nor for an ounce of powder, nor for an- 
other gun beyond what they had. They felt it was their 
battle. They regarded themselves as independent of the 
Crown, and they wanted none ot the Crown's assistance. If 
they must succumb without its aid, they would succumb. 
This proud independence was observed at the time, and is 
important as explaining the attitude of the descendants of the 
same men in another century. 



HENRY HUDSON. ^I 



CHAPTER VI. 

New York, 1 60 9. 

United Netherlands — Henry Hudson's Expedition — His Return to Europe 
— Nahant and Block Island — Purchase of Manhattan — System of Pa- 
troons — Contest of Flags Between the Dutch and English — Removal 
of Van Twiller — Appointment of William Keift — Increase of Emigra- 
tion — Trouble with the Indians — War Between the Iroquois and Al- 
gonquins — General Treaty of the Hostile Tribes — Warlike Move- 
ments of Dutch and English. 

AT the end of a long war to throw off the yoke of Spain, 
the United Netherlands in the beginning of the seven- 
teenth century found themselves the commercial leaders of the 
world. They had nearly a hundred thousand sailors in their 
service and, for commerce and war, a fleet of three thousand 
ships. Under the Dutch standard navigators and explorers of 
all nations might sail in search of riches and for discovery. 

Henry Hudson was probably a native of London. He 
was a friend of Captain John Smith, and other adventurers of 
the time whose thoughts turned constantly upon new routes to 
India. Under the direction of an English company, he had 
made two voyages in search of a north-western passage across 
the Northern Ocean, when the report of these enterprises in- 
duced the directors of the Dutch East India Company to 
send for him to come to Amsterdam. In January, 1609, they 
signed a contract to furnish him with a small vessel, about 
three hundred dollars for his expenses, and the promise of a 
suitable reward should he find a practicable passage. 

They wanted him to go by the northern shore of Asia, and 
on the 6th of April, 1609, Hudson started, with not more than 
twenty men, in the Half-Moon along the cost of Norway to- 
ward the North Cape ; but then, contrary to his instructions, 



^2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

he turned his ship toward the American coast, and after sailing 
along the shore near Cape Cod, and as far south as Chesa- 
peake Bay, he sailed away north again, and on the 2d of 
September came to anchor. Here he saw an island with low 
hills, and what they thought were three great rivers. Indians 
crowded to the shore and put off in canoes to welcome them. 
Hudson explored the wide river, hoping, doubtless, to find it 
the longed-for passage to the South Sea; but, persuaded at 
last that it was only a stream flowing far from the north; he 
turned about, not far from Albany, and descended it again. 
He named it the River of the Mountains; but since then it 
has received the name of its discoverer, and it is the Hudson, 

He sailed away at once and returned to Europe, expect- 
ing to report to his Dutch employers. But the English gov- 
ernment, which had waked up to the fact of his enterprise, 
refused to let him leave the country (for he had. put into an 
English port), reminding him that Englishmen owed their serv- 
ices to their own nation. To his country Hudson sacrificed 
his life, for in an English voyage a year afterward, he was aban- 
doned by his ship's crew in a small boat, among the ice fields 
of the great bay which bears his name. 

Neverthelesss, the Half-Moon found its way to Amsterdam, 
and a few Dutch merchants engaged a part of her crew to go 
back again to bring them furs from the savages. The trade 
proved highly successful, and Manhattan Island became the 
chief station for the little Dutch vessels which came and went 
up and down the river, bargaining with the Indians for good 
furs in exchange for beads, knives and hatchets. The river 
at first was called Mauritius, after Maurice of Orange. 

The Dutch seamen explored the neighborhood, went as far 
along the coast as the promontory of Nahant, on the New 
England shore, and left their traces in the names of Block 
Island, and Cape May. A trading company was formed which 
was given control over a region which was named "New 
Netherland," which included the sea-coast between 40 and 50 
degrees. The profits were enormous for its Amsterdam pro- 
prietors. It established friendly relations with all the Indians 



MANHATTAN AND PLYMOUTH. 73 

it met, and with a few exceptions lived in harmony with them 
without seeking to establish any firm footing in the land. 

In 162 1 the States General of the Netherlands chartered 
the great West India Company, which formally took posses- 
sion of New Netherlands, thus superseding the work of smaller 
traders. Early in March, 1623, the ship New Netherland 
sailed from Holland carrying the first colonists, in the true 
meaning of the word. They were Walloons, a people of French 
origin, who have lived for generations in the Southern Nether- 
lands. They professed the reformed religion, and being per- 
secuted for their faitli, like the Puritans, they longed for a. 
country of freedom which they could call their own. 

Three of their governors in turn managed the growing 
colony. One of them, Peter Minuit, bought the whole Island 
of Manhattan from the Indians for about twenty-five dollars, 
and all the chief interests of New Netherland became centered 
in this spot. The houses of the colonists were only cottages 
built of wood and bark. There was one stone building 
thatched, the head-quarters for the colony, and a large quad- 
rangular building of defense. Fort Amsterdam. 

In 1628 the island of Manhattan had a population of two 
hundred and seventy colonists. It had sent friendly greet- 
ings and even an em.bassador to the English colony at Plym- 
outh, who exchanged congratulations with Governor Bradford. 
This dignitary was courteous but somewhat stiff, not hesitat- 
ing to say that he thought the Dutch had no right to the land 
they occupied. There was, however, no serious dispute, and 
friendly relations continued between Manhattan and Plym- 
outh. 

The prosperity of the colony was greatly endangered by 
the establishment by the Amsterdam Company of the system 
of "patroons" — large landed proprietors with almost unlimit- 
ed powers, protected and defended by the company. These 
proprietors bought from the Indians and took possession of 
large tracts of land which they ruled like absolute lords, and 
sought also so large a share in the profitable trade with the 

Indians that the whole progress of the colony was hindered. 
4 



74 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the spring of 1633 a new difficulty arose. Wouter Van 
TAviller was the new director of the colony sent out from the 
company at Amsterdam. He was fat and fussy, narrow in 
perception, and quite unfitted for his post ; but he was mar- 
ried to a Van Rensselaer, of the chief family of the patroons. 
Soon after he arrived an English vessel, the William, en- 
tered the harbor, bringing as supercargo one Jacob Elkins, 
who had been there before as commandant of Fort Orange in 
the Dutch company's orders. He had now entered the En- 
glish service, and brought his new masters to the old place to 
show them the rich possessions there. 

The William anchored in the bay, and Director Van Twil- 
ler accepted with pleasure the polite invitation of the En- 
glish captain to dinner. This passed off pleasantly; but after- 
ward Elkins announced that they were going up the river to 
trade with the Indians and to see for themselves, as he boldly 
remarked, "the land that belonged to the English," since 
Hudson, the Englishman had discovered it. 

Van Twiller was greatly excited and ran up and down, be- 
side himself. He caused the flag of Orange to be raised on 
the fort and saluted three times, whereupon the English cap- 
tain ran up the English flag on board the William and had 
that saluted three times, after which he weighed his anchor 
and sailed away up stream before the eyes of the director 
and under the flag of the Prince of Orange. Van Twiller 
could think of nothing better to do than to open a barrel of 
wine before his door and drink bumper after bumper, urging 
his people to do the same for the love of him and the Prince 
of Orange. 

After hesitating several days Van Twiller managed to send 
off some soldiers from the fort in pursuit of Elkins, who com- 
pelled him to return, and the William was then ordered to 
leave the harbor. 

On her return to England the owners of the William made 
complaint, with demand for damages, since the object of its 
voyage had been defeated by the Dutch. The application 
Was denied and a controversy arose, but the matter was 



INDIAN WAR. 75 

for the time dismissed by the Dutch and English govern- 
ments. 

For the first twenty years of its settlement Manhattan was 
little else than a mere trading post, yet it increased in some 
degree. The incompetent governor, Van Twiller, grew more 
and more imbecile in his management of public affairs, al- 
though with all his imbecility he managed himself to grow 
rich. In 1637 he was removed and his successor appointed, 
William Kieft, of Amsterdam. This was no great improve- 
ment; for he came with a bad reputation for honesty, though 
a good one for skill in the management of his own affairs. 

The chamber at Amsterdam in 1638 for the first time 
opened the New Netherland trade to competition, virtually 
free, which greatly increased emigration. Ship after ship 
brought colonists, people of all conditions, who had suddenly 
come to regard the new country as a land of promise. From 
the other colonies also came recruits. Many came from Vir- 
ginia, bringing with them cherry and peach trees and their 
better method of tobacco culture. Prosperity came with the 
new-comers and showed them to be a better class of people 
than their predecessors. Healthy and rapid progress was 
now to be looked for. 

But a terrible calamity was about to check this prosperity. 
The Dutch had hitherto treated the Indians with wisdom and 
justice, but the management of Kieft's administration was 
different. Guns and ammunition had been unwisely sold to 
the natives, and when quarrels arose these were used against 
the settlers. In return for attacks by the Raritans upon a 
settlement Kieft offered a bounty for every head of a Raritan 
Indian that should be brought to him. 

About the same time the Indians of Connecticut were 
roused against English and Dutch alike, and every-where 
arose the dread of a general Indian war. 

A war among the savages themselves was the beginning. 
The Indians who inhabited the Atlantic slope and the basin 
of the lakes were divided into two great families — the Iroquois 
and the Algonquins. Among all the Indians of the New 



76 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

World there were none so politic and intelligent, so fierce and 
brave, as the true Iroquois, the people of the Five Nations of 
New York. They were a terror to all the surrounding tribes; 
their speech and lineage were different from that of the Algon- 
quins, to whom belonged the tribes of river Indians who 
lived along the Hudson, and the Narragansetts and other New 
England tribes. These latter tribes all trembled at the name 
of Mohawk, the eastern tribe of the Five Nations, and paid 
them tribute. 

These were the enemies who came sweeping down upon the 
Algonquins, armed with guns the Dutch had furnished. 
Without resistance these southern Indians fled through the 
woods, seeking refuge with the white men, although they 
themselves had been lately hostile. Humanity urged that 
they should find protection, but Kieft, and those who shared 
his views, resolved to attack them. A frightful massacre en- 
sued of the defenseless Indians fleeing before another enemy 
of their own hue. 

The results, though terrible, were but natural. The Algon- 
quin people every-where rose against the whites. Every 
swamp and wood in the country seemed to swarm with en- 
raged savages. A short peace was followed by renewed hos- 
tilities. A band of savages attacked the little house of Anne 
Hutchinson, near New Rochelle, and she and her whole 
family were murdered, except one granddaughter, who was 
carried away captive. The people naturally attributed these 
misfortunes to Kieft, for although proclamation was made for 
a solemn fast in acknowledgment that it was " owing to their 
sins," they all accused the director, and not themselves. The 
terror lasted through a long winter, savages lurking every- 
where, houses in flames, women and children starving, the 
Indians every-where keeping away from bodies of organized 
troops, so that resistance availed but little. 

In the beginning of 1644 two Indian villages were surprised 
and sacked. Other successes followed, and at last a decisive 
blow was struck in Connecticut which silenced the eastern 
tribes. In another year the Indians themselves began to 



ENGLISH POLICY. 7/ 

show a wish for peace, and on the 30th of August, 1645, the 
citizens of New Amsterdam assembled on the ground now 
known as the Battery, witnessed the smoking of the pipe of 
peace, and the conclusion of a general treaty of all the hos- 
tile tribes. 

On the 6th day of September New Netherland held a day 
of thanksgiving for the ending of the long and terrible Indian 
war. Sixteen hundred savages had been killed; but there 
was not a single Dutch settlement that had not been attacked 
and almost always destroyed. 

Now, however, in spite of the check the country had re- 
ceived, courage began to revive, houses were rebuilt, and 
lands cultivated once more. Best of all, the origin of all 
their misfortunes, Kieft, the director, was, after a second 
urgent appeal, recalled by the company at home. His suc- 
cessor was appointed, and the anxious colonists of Manhattan 
were greatly encouraged. 

The Dutch had settled along the river banks rather than 
along the sea-shore, chiefly because it was more convenient 
for the Indian trade. Thus by a glance at the map we may 
see that the English settlements in New England and those 
in Maryland, Virginia and Carolina were separated by the 
two lines of Dutch settlements on the Hudson and the Dela- 
ware. It was not unnatural that the English authorities 
should have felt that some time or other New Netherland 
must come into their hands if their American colonies were 
to be what they desired. The colonists themselves in a 
measure desired the same thing, for though there had been no 
open rupture with the Dutch there had been not infrequent 
disputes. There was no particular ground, however, on 
which the English could claim the territory save that of 
prior discovery. But this objection weighed but little with 
Charles II., and in 1664, in time of peace, Colonel Nicolls 
and certain other commissioners left England charged with 
various duties, and, among other things, directed to assert 
the English claim of possession on account of discovery by 
the Cabots. These commissioners had with them a force of 



78 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

nearly five hundred men, and they were ordered to recruit 
more in New England. The Massachusetts men refused to 
have any thing to do with the business (for the commission- 
ers had other and unpopular business with the colonists of 
the bay); but the Connecticut men were not unwilling to 
march against the Dutch, whom they had never considered 
very pleasing neighbors. In August, 1664, the English fleet 
appeared before New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant the wooden- 
legged was in command of the town; but the place was in no 
condition for defense. There were no walls to defend, no 
men to defend them, and no arms or ammunition to defend 
them with. In other words, the place was very weakly forti- 
fied. Stuyvesant, however, was plucky enough for any thing, 
and resolved to try to defend his trust. He received a letter 
from Colonel Nicolls, the English commander, but would 
have nothing to do with the proposition and tore the paper 
up. But the people of the town, thinking that something was 
going on, gathered together the pieces and read them. Then, 
on hearing the terms which Nicolls offered, they begged Stuy- 
vesant to surrender. But Sutyvesant stumped about and 
swore that he would defend the place to the last. He was, 
however, the only man of that opinion, and finding out that 
he was utterly deserted he submitted to the terms offered. 
He marched out with th'e garrison with the honors of war and 
the English took possession. The other towns followed the 
example, and the conquest of the New Netherland was com- 
plete. The towns on the Delaware also surrendered, and the 
country afterward known as " The Jerseys " was made over 
to Berkeley and Carteret and a new company. The name of 
the province was changed to New York and the name of the 
town also; for to James, Duke of York, afterward King of 
England, was the province all granted by Charles II., to whom 
power was given to make laws and in all ways to look to the 
good of the colonists. Nicolls was the first governor, succeed- 
ed shortly by Lovelace. This last was governor in 1672, when 
M'ar broke out between England and Holland, in which year 
a Dutch fleet appeared before New York and captured the 



ENGLISH COLONIES. 79 

place as easily as the English had done eight years be- 
fore. The name was changed again, this time to Orange, in 
honor of William of Orange, the stadtholder. The Dutch, 
however, only held the province through the war, and at the 
peace it was given back to England. 

It formed the necessary connecting link between New En- 
gland and the southern colonies. Without New York the 
colonies could never have united; could never have grown 
strong enough to shake off their allegiance to the mother 
country. But all this was then in the future. Probably 
there was no thought in England or the colonies save rejoic- 
ing at the appropriation of New York. The Duke of York 
again took charge of it, and named as governor Sir Edmund 
Andros, a man of some name in American history, of whom 
we shall hear again. 



80 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER VII: 

Government of New England Changed. 

The Restoration of Charles II. — His Demands on Massachusetts — Terms 
With Other Colonies — A Commission Sent to New England — It Ar- 
rives at New York — Passes to Boston — The General Court Meets — 
Controversy With the Commission — Victory of the General Court — 
Decline of the Puritan Spirit — Its Causes — Its Progress — The Years 
Following the Commission — Maine and New Hampshire — Mason's 
Claim and that of Gorges — The Massachusetts Charter Declared 
Null and Void — The Controversy Ends by the Failure of the Col- 
onists — James II. 's Plan — Sir Edmund Andros — His Success at First 
— Popular Rising — Andros Imprisoned — William and Mary Pro- 
claimed. 

THE restoration of Charles II. was looked upon by the 
men of New England with some apprehensions. Nev- 
ertheless the two houses of the Massachusetts General Court 
drew up addresses which were forwarded to the king, who 
returned an answer couched in general terms but not unfavor- 
able. But although nothing was at this time done, it was 
evident that a change in the management of colonial affairs 
was to take place. The king was formally proclaimed by all 
the colonies in the summer of 1660. At the same time Mas- 
sachusetts drew up a sort of bill of rights and duties in which 
the colony clearly stated its position. She also resolved to 
send agents to England to present that position to the king. 
Bradstreet and Norton were graciously received by Charles, 
and returned with a royal letter in which he promised to 
respect their charter, but made certain demands which were 
the subjects of discussion for the ensuing years. In the first 
place it was commanded that the franchise should not be con- 
fined to church members. Next, the episcopal form of wor- 
ship should be allowed. The colonists were also required to 



Charles's commission. 8i 

take the oath of allegiance, and it was lastly demanded that 
justice should be administered in the name of the king. The 
colonists felt that their liberty was gone if they granted these 
demands. 

The other colonies were, on the whole, gainers by the Res- 
toration. Rhode Island received a royal charter. So also 
Connecticut, to which New Haven was joined, not without 
much opposition on the part of the smaller colony. The 
union was finally acceded to only with the fear that worse 
would befall them. 

It was finally decided in England to send a commission 
to regulate affairs in New England and New York. The 
four commissioners, Nicolls, Cartwright, Carr and Maverick, 
arrived in the country in July, 1664. Their object was 
twofold. They were, first, to assert the claim of England 
to New Netherland and to demand of the New England 
colonies assistance in enforcing that claim ; and, second, 
they were to see to the state of things in the New England 
colonies and to provide for the " settling the peace and 
security of the said country according to their good and 
sound discretions." That is to say, in other words (as was 
put forward in certain private instructions received by them), 
they were to see how the colonies stood with respect to the 
king ; to see whether there was any ground for questioning 
their charters, and to proceed in every way that they might 
think best, toward the further establishing of the king's au- 
thority in those parts. 

The commissioners set to work first in regard to New 
Netherland, and having demanded and obtained assistance 
from Connecticut, they departed for the island of " Man- 
hadoes," as it was called, with the success already narrated. 
On their return (Nicolls remaining in New York, of which 
he had been appointed the governor) the other three devoted 
themselves to prosecuting their duties, as far as regarded the 
colonies of Plymouth, Connecticut and Rhode Island, reserv- 
ing Massachusetts to the end, as probably more contumacious. 
And in these colonies they met, on the whole, with success, 
4* 



82 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

their demands being quietly acceded to, though in some cases 
subsequently ignored. In May, 1665, they all four met in 
Boston to consider what might best be done with the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Colony. 

It being about the time of the meeting of the General 
Court the commissioners presented certain papers to such 
of the magistrates and deputies as had already assembled, 
setting forth their instructions ; recapitulating the results of 
the New Netherland expedition, complaining that the king's 
letter, by them already transmitted, had not been made public, 
desiring a map whereby they might settle the boundaries of 
the colonies as they had been ordered, and in a general way 
stating their position. 

At the election the next day Bellingham was elected gov- 
ernor, and, the General Court meeting, about seventy were 
admitted freemen who were not church members, contrary to 
the usual practice. Communications now were opened be- 
tween the commissioners and the court. But the court would 
not agree to any thing that could satisfy the commissioners. 
Nor could the commissioners be satisfied with the manner in 
which the previous demands of the king had been acceded 
to. The communications resulted in nothing at all. Another 
proceeding, however, was of more importance. The com- 
missioners took upon themselves, in accordance with their 
instructions, to declare their readiness to hear a certain case 
in which appeal was made from the judgment of the colony. 
The General Court protested against such a proceeding, for 
the commissioners proposed to hold the trial without a jury. 
The commissioners, however, insisted, and set an hour for the 
hearing. At the hour appointed a messenger from the Gen- 
eral Court appeared and forbade the people " in his majesty's 
name and by the authority of his royal charter," to countenance, 
or abet, or consent to any such proceedings. The commis- 
sioners did not insist ; they saw that the colony was stubborn 
and that their proceedings were of no avail, and, witli a pro- 
test, they left the town. They proceeded to the north, where 
they attempted disturbances in the settlements on the New 



DECLINE OF PURITANISM. 83 

Hampshire and Maine coast, as will be elsewhere recorded. 
Then they dispersed ; NicoJls and Maverick going to New 
York, and Carr to Delaware, where he had private interests, 
while Cartwright returned to England with the report of the 
commissioners. 

Although it would at first seem as though the visit of the 
royal commissioners had ended in a victory for the Massa- 
chusetts colony, on looking upon events with reference to 
subsequent history, it seems as though from this point we 
must date the beginning of the downfall of that high ideal 
government, which had existed in the minds of the founders 
of Massachusetts, and had been partially carried out by the 
settlement of that Commonwealth. From this point we must 
date the beginning of that determined attack by the Stuart 
kings which finally robbed Massachusetts of so much of 
the freedom she had now for almost forty years enjoyed. 
From this point we may also date the beginning of that weak- 
ening of the Puritan spirit which finally, in the eighteenth 
century, disappeared before the new spirit which may be 
called the Revolutionary idea. 

The principal causes of this decline are not difficult to 
note. In the first place the old generation was passing 
away. Winthrop, Dudley, Endicott and many more of those 
great men who had conceived the principles of the ideal 
Puritan Commonwealth were by this time dead. Such ideals 
are not created in every generation. The events of the earlier 
years of the century were such as to call forward the highest 
and noblest qualities of the Englishmen of that day. Their 
immediate descendants could do little more than to endeavor 
to preserve the ideals of the fathers. And even this pres- 
ervation in the case of New England was by no means easy. 
It was not as though Massachusetts were guarded round about, 
so that no one could obtain entrance thereto save the Puritans. 
As the colony grew in strength and prosperity, the number 
of those who had no stake in the colony save a material one 
became largely augmented, and the growth of this material 
spirit was one of the causes of the decline of the Puritan 



84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ideal. But more important than either of these was the fact 
that the Commonweahh and Protectorate in England were 
now a thing of the past, and that a Stuart was once more on 
the throne. Charles II. and his brother, James II., were not 
men to see with complacency the growth of this Common- 
wealth in New England. The bent of their minds led theni 
to think, naturally, of repressing it. Nor were there lacking 
those who should encourage such ideas. There were many 
in England who looked to America as a means of repairing 
fortunes broken by the Civil War. There were many who, 
through the strictness of the Massachusetts Colony, had many 
a grievance against the Puritan Commonwealth. So there 
were by no means wanting those whom personal interest en- 
couraged to stand by the side of their lord, the king, and 
say daily to him, "My lord, remember the Athenians." 

We shall see in the next few pages the manner in which 
the decline proceeded. The commercial and geographical 
increase of strength was, as we have seen, turned against the 
Puritan spirit. The strengthening of the colony in relation 
to the Indians, both in war and in religion, was of no avail. 
The colony was no longer allowed to strengthen herself in- 
ternally by casting forth dissentients and keeping out intrud- 
ers. She was forced to take to herself those who had little 
sympathy with her spirit. The franchise was to be no longer 
confined to church members, and the strictness of the prim- 
itive Puritan worship was to be broken in upon by the tolera- 
tion of other sects. And, lastly, the virtual independence of 
the colony in regard to England was destroyed, and the prerog- 
ative of the king was vigorously asserted in many ways, revers- 
ing the Puritan idea that the law of God was to be preferred 
to that of the king, and enforcing with vigor a very different 
state of things. 

For ten years after the visit of the royal commissioners affairs 
went on in Massachusetts without the slightest connection 
with England. Nor did England prosecute her attempts 
upon her colony. There is nothing to chronicle in the prog- 
ress of the dispute between the two countries; for scarcely 



EDWARD RANDOLPH. 85 

any political connection existed. There was no rumor of 
English encroachment on the New England colonies beyond 
the demand of Andros, who had been made Governor of 
New York, on the colony of Connecticut for a portion of her 
territory as belonging to his master, the Duke of York. 

Maine and New Hampshire had not been included in the 
charter of Massachusetts ; both had come in a manner under 
her rule. The four towns on the Piscataqua, " in the patent 
of New Hampshire," were in 1641 taken under the jurisdic- 
tion of the Bay Colony at their own request. And that juris- 
diction had been pressed farther along the coast of Maine, 
where Sir Ferdinando Gorges had conflicting claims as pro- 
prietor. The visit of the royal commissioners into those 
parts had been for the purpose of stirring up disaffection for 
the Massachusetts government, whereby there might be 
ground for complaint against the colony in England. But at 
that time there had been but little success in that direction. 

Ten years afterward, however, in England the claims of 
Mason and of Gorges were both revived, and memorials were 
offered to the Committee of the Privy Council to whose 
charge colonial matters were delegated. Complaint was also 
made, by the London merchants and others, of the violation 
of the navigation laws, to which Massachusetts, as well as 
Virginia, had been subject; and, as it seemed a favorable 
opportunity, it was resolved to bring up once more the case 
against Massachusetts and to endeavor again to assert the king's 
authority there in a manner more suitable to his prerogative 
than that which now obtained. A letter was written to the 
colony and sent by the hand of one Edward Randolph. This 
man proved himself in the course of the next twelve or thir- 
teen years the persistent enemy of the colony. On this ex- 
cursion he did his business, but met with little success; for 
the letter was written in a mild spirit and the colony hardly 
saw fit to mend its ways. Randolph complained of the in- 
fraction of the navigation laws, and was in return told by 
Governor Leverett, an old Parliamentary soldier, that by their 
charter they made their own laws, and that the laws of Par- 



86 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

liament did not concern them. The colony sent two agents 
back to England with an address for King Charles, but did 
nothing in the way of changing their customs. 

The story of the consequent proceedings is too long to enter 
upon in detail. As time passed on the king became more 
and more determined, and the colony was forced to a measure 
of compliance. One by one the points demanded were given 
up, but grudgingly, and one at a time did Massachusetts sur- 
render her old independent laws. New Hampshire was taken 
from her by a decision of the crown lawyers, but she succeeded 
in retaining Maine by a composition with Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges. At this time, in the colony, there was no longer the 
unbroken front which had been shown to previous encroach- 
ments of England. Among the descendants of the founders 
of the colony there were some who were scarcely worthy of 
their distinguished fathers. There were left many who were 
ready steadfastly to maintain the liberties of Massachusetts as 
granted in the charter, but there was also a small party of 
those who held for the king, and also a larger party of those 
who preferred submission in time, hoping thereby to gain 
more than they could hope for if an open breach took place. 
Yet the colony, though crippled in this manner, would not 
accede to all the demands of the crown, and finally it seemed 
evident to the king that extreme measures must be taken. 
It was determined to begin legal proceedings to see whether 
the Puritans had not exceeded their lawful powers in the inter- 
pretation and execution of their patent. A writ of quo war- 
ranto was issued June 27, 1683, and the colony was sum- 
moned to show cause why the charter should not be declared 
null and void. No defense was attempted, and sixteen 
months later a decree was entered vacating the charter. 

The government of Massachusetts had now no legal stand- 
ing. The right over the country reverted to the crown, in 
which it had resided when the charter had just issued. The 
long struggle between the colony and the crown had ended, 
and the Massachusetts men were entirely at the mercy of the 
king, to be treated as he saw fit. At first, however, no 



EDMUND ANDROS. 87 

change was made, and the old government was temporarily 
contmued. 

Charles II. died after a few months, and his brother, James 
II., succeeding him, at first continued the old form of govern- 
ment for the time and subsequently joined Massachusetts, 
Maine and New Hampshire into one province, for the ruling 
of which he appointed a council, Randolph bemg a member, 
at the head of which was placed as president Joseph Dudley, 
the son of Thomas Dudley, the second governor of the colony. 
The difference between this man and his father shows us how 
the general character of the Puritan colony had declined. 
Thomas Dudley may represent the men of the days of the 
settlement of the country, the sturdy Puritans, with their 
firm ideas about God and government. Joseph Dudley cared 
more for the favor of the English court than he did about the 
liberties of his own country. The contrast is most instructive. 

There are few events during the presidency of Dudley. 
Every body was waiting to see what would come next. Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island feared that their charters were to 
be taken from them. In Massachusetts, men waited to see 
what would come next. The government was by no means 
utterly subserv^ient. Randolph met with much difficulty in 
carrying out his duties as collector of customs, and the little 
Episcopal Church which was immediately formed found it 
hard to find a place for worship. The presidency was but a 
temporary expedient and satisfied no one. 

It was the idea of James II. to unite all the northern col- 
onies under one government; for, as is easily seen, he would 
thereby have more control over his foreign possessions. Ac- 
cordingly, in 1686, as had been expected, the charter of Con- 
necticut was annulled, and the next year that of Rhode Island 
was delivered up. In 1686 Sir Edmund Andros, who had 
been governor of New York, was made governor of Maine, 
New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Plymouth,* and was sent 
to America with orders to join Connecticut to the other col- 

* It must be recollected that Plymouth never had a charter. 



88 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

onies under him. It was part of the plan to join New York 
also, so that all the northern colonies should be under the 
rule of one man, and he one who might be depended on to 
carry out the king's will. 

Andros was such a man. As soon as he had established 
himself at Boston he set to work at once to create such a 
manner of government as would be to the mind of his master. 
It goes without saying that his proceedings were distasteful 
to the colonists. Among his earliest acts were some espe- 
cially displeasing to the inhabitants in regard to the introduc- 
tion of the service of the Anglican Church. A congregation 
had been gathered, but, being refused the use of any of the 
meeting-houses, it had worshiped in a room in the town- 
house. Andros was by no means satisfied. He sent for the 
ministers and demanded that an arrangement should be made 
whereby the Episcopal Church might meet in one of the 
Puritan meeting-houses. The ministers answered that their 
consciences could by no means permit this. Andros did not 
insist at the time, but later, on Good Friday, he sent to de- 
mand the keys of the Old South Meeting-house, that it 
might be used for divine worship. The request was refused, 
but he managed, through the sexton, to obtain entrance into 
the building, and henceforth services were held there regu- 
larly at such times on Sunday as it was not required by the 
regular congregation. Another proceeding of the new gov- 
ernor's, and one which the inhabitants justly looked upon as 
most dangerous, was in regard to arbitrary impositions of taxes; 
for, there being no general court, the taxes were laid by the 
governor and council. Several towns refused to elect the 
officers who should collect them, and were at once severely 
taken order with, their principal men being tried and heavily 
fined. Another arbitrary act of the governor's was concern- 
ing land tenures. All tenure of land, he held, had depended 
on the old charter. This being vacated he held that all right 
in the soil had returned to the crown, and he therefore forced 
all persons who desired valid title to obtain it of him; and 
this confirmation of old deeds was rendered a very expensive 



REVOLUTION. 89 

affair. In fact, all administration of justice was rendered 
particularly difficult and expensive in many ways, both by 
extortionate fees, by ordering all records to be kept at Boston, 
by not printing the laws, and by various other ways, all 
which served to stir up the people. 

Early in the year 1689 the governor returned from an ex- 
pedition into Maine. He had so far succeeded well in carry- 
ing out the orders of his master. He had journeyed into 
Plymouth and Connecticut and had established his rule there 
firmly. The latter colony had been deprived of its charter, 
and Rhode Island had been forced to deliver up hers. New 
York had been added to the Dominion of New England, and 
every-where the arbitrary government which he had been 
bidden to set up had seemed to succeed well. 

In March, 1689, news arrived of the landing in England of 
the Prince of Orange. It was nothing but a rumor, and no 
one could say what would be his success or how the venture 
might turn out. But it was sufficient encouragement for the 
inhabitants of Massachusetts, so goaded by the tyranny of 
Andros, that they were ready for very desperate measures. 
The principal men of the colony seem to have been in con- 
ference already. On the i8th of April a revolution was effected. 
The beacon on Beacon Hill was lighted, the people met, 
and the captain of the frigate in the harbor was arrested. 
Andros was in the fort on Fort Hill. Later in the morning a 
number of the principal men of the colony, with a company 
of militia, entered the town-house. Randolph and many of 
the government were arrested and put in jail. The jailer 
was put there too, and all were watched over by one Scates, 
a bricklayer. 

The gentlemen deliberating in the town-house drew up a 
statement of their case and read it to the crowd assembled 
before the building. Word was sent to order Andros to sur- 
render under threat of an assault of the fort. He was taken 
and lodged in a private house, and many with him were put in 
the jail. The next day the castle was seized and the frigate 
in the harbor. The Andros government was at an end. A 



90 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

provisional government was adopted under the style of the 
" Council for the Safety of the People." Bradstreet, the last 
governor under the old charter, was elected their president. 
By them a convention was summoned of delegates from the 
various towns, by whom it was decided that the old charter 
should be revised, and that those who had held ofhce under 
it should provisionally resume those offices until a permanent 
government should be arranged. At about this time a ship 
arrived from England with orders to proclaim William and 
Mary. The colony obeyed with very great joy; there was a 
great parade in Boston and a great dinner at the town-house, 
and the day was passed with great acclamation and thanks- 
giving. 

With even more ease was the revolution consummated in 
the other colonies; for in most of them there was no one to 
make resistance. In" Plymouth the old government was set up 
when news came of what had been done in Boston. So also 
in Connecticut. In each elections were held for the General 
Court, and the governor and magistrates who had been in 
office under the old system were temporarily confirmed in 
those positions. 



THE CAROLINAS AND VIRGINIA. 9 1 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Carolinas and Virginia— 1 680-1 700. 

Early History of the Carolinas — The Coast at First Neglected — Charles II.'s 
Charter — Locke's Fundamentals— They Are Never Put in Force — Vir- 
ginia Without a Governor — Sir William Berkeley Appointed — Oppres- 
sion of the Colonists— War With Indians — Nathaniel Bacon — His 
Popularity — Conflict With Berkeley — Compromise Secured — Berkeley 
Leaves the Province to Bacon — A Convention — Bacon's Unexpected 
Death — End of the Insurrection — Colonel Jeffrey Succeeds Berkeley 
— Berkeley's Death — Culpepper Appointed Governor — Foundation of 
Williamsburg, and the College of William and Maiy. 

THE early history of the Carohnas is not an easy one to 
apprehend. Made up of small enterprises with no 
purpose higher than that of personal advancement, lacking 
any great principles, or indeed any principle which may serve 
as the clue through the labyrinth, lacking any great men or 
great events to give color to the narrative, we find ourselves 
in a network of details about settlements, Indian fights and 
quarrels, which is difficult to disentangle and present in an in- 
telligible form. 

The region south of Virginia had been in a measure neg- 
lected in the work of American colonization. The ex- 
amples of Ribault and Raleigh in the sixteenth century had 
not been followed until late in the seventeenth. But by 1660, 
although no very definite efforts had been made at coloniza- 
tion, there had been different and disconnected settlements 
made on various parts of the shore south of Virginia. A set- 
tlement was made from Virginia on the Albemarle River, 
which finally became the colony of North Carolina. A settle- 
ment of New England men was planted near Cape Fear, but 
on account of fear of the Indians it was given up. On the 
same spot, some years later, a settlement was made by emi- 



92 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

grants from the Barbadoes. These men finally deserted this 
place and mingled with a settlement made from England 
some years before, near the present site of Charleston. These 
settlements had no given forms of government nor any claim 
to their land save that of " squatters." 

This was the condition of the country when Charles II. 
made over the whole region for nearly five hundred miles 
south of Virginia to a number of noblemen of England. 
These men had the same position as that of Lord Baltimore — 
that is, they were proprietors ; and Carolina, as it was then 
called, was made a proprietary colony. Among the proprie- 
tors were Lord Clarendon, Lord Albemarle and Lord Ashley, 
afterward Earl of Shaftesbury. They at once set to work to 
devise a scheme of government, and with the assistance of 
John Locke, who subsequently became famous for other 
things, they devised the most singular frame of government 
which we have met with in America. It was called the 
" Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina," and was in effect 
a statement of the proposed constitution of society in the new 
colony. The political and religious system was carefully laid 
down and the system of land tenure, together with provisions 
for the administration of justice. The government contem- 
plated was to be an aristocracy, at the head of which were to 
be the proprietors. The country was to be divided into coun- 
ties, each made up of eight " seignories," eight "baronies," 
and twenty-four colonies, each to consist of twelve thousand 
acres. The proprietors were to own the '' seignories," the 
common people the "colonies." The "baronies" were to 
belong to the subordinate nobility, which was of two classes — 
first, the "landgraves ; " second, the " caciques." Besides the 
" seignories," the proprietors (or their heirs) were to possess 
the following offices : Palatine, chancellor, chief justice, con- 
stable, admiral, treasurer, high steward and chamberlain, and 
each of these officials was to be assisted by a court, in which 
the " landgraves," the "caciques," and the "commons" were 
to be represented. We have gone so far in our descriptions 
of the Fundamental Constitutions merely to give an idea of 



THE CAROLINAS. 93 

the utter inappropriateness of the instrument to the small, 
scattered and struggling colonies which had passed under the 
rule of the proprietors. Although made by themselves, the 
proprietors seem to have appreciated the absurdity of their 
frame of government, for they never heartily endeavored to 
put it into force. And as for the colonists, they would have 
nothing to do with it, and made up assemblies which passed 
laws to suit themselves. 

Not that the proprietors did not make any use of their 
constitution and charter. They at once sent out as many 
colonists as they could tempt, and with them they sent out 
Sayle as deputy-governor, and other officers, for the 
already existing colonies. But they could come to no sort 
of agreement with the colonists already on the spot. In 
North Carolina especially the settlers were a turbulent set. 
One of the laws of that colony prohibited the collection in 
its borders of any debt incurred outside of the State. The 
place became, therefore, a great refuge, and in consequence 
the population was rough and wild. The government over them 
had been at first only temporary, the proprietary governors 
always affirming that the Fundamental Constitutions were to 
be put into force. This declaration rendered things unsettled 
more. South Carolina improved more than North Carolina, 
notably through the introduction of the culture of rice, 
which was found to be particularly fitted to its soil and cli- 
mate. But neither colony was far advanced in any way at 
the beginning of the eighteenth century. 

During the period in which England was preparing herself 
for the restoration of the king by putting aside the new Pro- 
tector, Richard Cromwell — from the spring of 1659 till that of 
1660 — Virginia v/as without a governor. In March the Gen- 
eral Assembly took upon itself to elect Sir William Berkeley, 
who had been superseded by the Parliamentary commission. 
He was confirmed by a commission from the king, Charles II., 
upon his restoration. 

Berkeley ruled his colony with an iron hand. With him 
religion meant conformity to the Established Church, Pie 



94 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

hated non-conformity and set himself against any appeal to hu- 
man reason in matters of belief. Puritans and Quakers he 
detested, and regarded their departure from his colony as a 
good riddance. He says, " I thank God there are no free 
schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have them these 
hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience into 
the world, and printing has divulged them and libels against 
the best governments. God keep ns from both." 

The colonists under his rule were oppressed, industry was 
paralyzed, taxes were enormous. Only some pretext for re- 
volt was needed to rouse the people to resistance. The In- 
dians on the frontier were becoming troublesome, yet Gov- 
ernor Berkeley, who perhaps thought such reports were 
exaggerated, would make no effort to check them. The col- 
onists, determined to defend themselves, avenged upon some 
Indians — very likely the wrong ones — the murder of one of 
their colonists. Retaliation followed. All the Indian tribes 
in the neighborhood were aroused. The colonists of Mary- 
land and Virginia united in an expedition, and a thousand 
men were sent out under Colonel John Washington, of Vir- 
ginia, the great-grandfather of George Washington, and Major 
Thomas Freeman, of Maryland. There was no conflict, only 
a parley, during which the whites allowed their rage to blind 
them so far as to execute at once the five chiefs who came to 
make peace, although they were entitled to safe conduct 
under all the rules of war. Public opinion even then con- 
demned the act, and Washington was publicly rebuked by 
the governor. But revenge lay in the hands of the Indians, 
who spread dismay all through Virginia. The condition of 
the colonists was deplorable, in constant danger of attack 
from the savages, who lurked throughout the land. Yet 
Berkeley remained strangely indifferent to the sufferings of 
the colonists, and dead, apparently, to their appeals for pro- 
tection. 

A young man named Nathaniel Bacon became greatly 
moved by the distress of the people around him, and when, 
in the early spring, savages killed two persons upon his own 



BERKELEY AND BACON. 95 

plantation, he was roused to action. He swore to avenge 
the death of his overseer, and, without any commission from 
the governor, gathered together a considerable force, with 
which he moved toward the wilderness, attacked a fortified 
village, burned it, and put one hundred and fifty Indians to 
death. 

This act of Bacon's made him popular enough to be elected 
for the new Assembly in spite of his defiance of the gov- 
ernor, but it did not prevent his arrest by the order of that 
dignitary when he came to Jamestown for the meeting of the 
burgesses. Yet he was allowed to take his seat in that body, 
and Berkeley, who seems to have had a tender feeling for the 
young man, in the presence of the whole house extended his 
forgiveness to him, which Bacon received kneeling, after 
admitting his crime and begging pardon of God, the king 
and the governor. 

But this reconciliation between the wily old man and the 
fiery youth was brief. In a few days the rumor ran through 
the town that Bacon had fled, and soon after the news 
came that the rebel was marching upon the town with four 
or five hundred men. It is supposed that Bacon had reason 
to suspect Berkeley of treachery, and this is the only excuse 
for his own breaking faith. It was a scene of wild excitement 
when the governor and council went forth into the street to 
treat with the rebel leader, who had taken his position, pro- 
tected by his troops, near the State House. Berkeley and 
Bacon were both enraged. The governor bared his breast 
and cried, " Shoot me ! 'Fore God, fair mark ! shoot me ! " 

For a moment Bacon controlled himself, and replied with 
something of respect. But when the governor turned away, 
followed by his council, the fury of the rebel burst forth, and 
he shouted, "Damn my blood! I'll kill governor, council, 
Assembly and all ! " 

Fusils were pointed at the windows crowded with anxious 
faces, the pieces were cocked, when some one waved a " hand- 
kercher " at a window and called out that they should be satis- 
fied. This person was recognized as an influential citizen. 



96 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The soldiers lowered their arms and were marched away, and 
thus ended the scene. 

Berkeley was forced to a compromise, and Bacon's com- 
mission was promptly passed by the burgesses and confirmed 
by governor and council. Not only this, but many other 
concessions were made by the Assembly for the benefit of the 
people. 

Bacon now speedily brought together the thousand men 
allowed him by the commission, and set out for a vigorous 
campaign against the Indians ; but the contest soon turned 
to one between his authority and that of the governor. 
Berkeley could not let him alone ; he proclaimed him an out- 
law and marched against him and his thousand men, but was 
driven from his position and left the pi-ovince to his oppo- 
nent, now virtually Governor of Virginia and remarkably 
popular. Bacon issued a call for a convention, which was 
responded to by a large assembly of the leading men of the 
province. Their deliberations were those of a grave body 
of men who had begun a war of independence ; for the move- 
ment had grown from a simple desire to protect themselves 
from the inroads of Indians to a determination to throw off 
unreasonable restraint. 

The result was a determined attack upon Berkeley, who 
resisted it with varying success. In the end he and his ad- 
herents gave up all hope of overcoming the rebels, and one 
night, in the dark, governor, officials, troops, all departed 
from Jamestown with the townspeople and their household 
goods. When Bacon entered the next morning he found the 
town absolutely deserted and bare of all provisions, and since 
there was no longer any profit in holding the place he de- 
cided to destroy it. That night flames utterly consumed the 
first English town built in America. The first church that 
ever was in Virginia was burned to the ground. The place 
was never rebuilt. 

Bacon was now master, and might carry on his schemes 
of liberty and progress for the colony and push further his 
Indian victories. But in the very height of his success, and 



BACON'S DEATH. 97 

on the threshold of new enterprises, a trifling illness which 
he had neglected in the heat of contest began to gain upon 
him. Nothing checked the progress of the disease, and on 
the ist day of October, 1676, not more than six months from 
the beginning of his exciting career, he died. 

The insurrection he had so boldly pushed forward was 
without a leader. No one was fitted to his task. The in- 
spiration of the violent, enthusiastic Bacon was wanting, and 
despondency and panic prevailed. The rebellion suddenly 
died out. The followers of a lost cause scattered to their 
homes, and Berkeley lost little time in availing himself of the 
situation. He was reinstated in power and used it without 
mercy. 

As an active argument the rebellion was at an end ; it 
lasted only in the minds and memories of the people, who 
secretly clung to the cause of their lost leader. The insur- 
rection had cost the colony a hundred thousand pounds, the 
loss of many lives, and a turbulent summer season ; it de- 
veloped in the people a knowledge of their own power and 
of the possibility of independence which should bear fruit in 
another generation. Nor was the triumph of Berkeley last- 
ing. In the beginning of the next year came from England 
a small fleet bringing Colonel Herbert Jeffreys, armed with a 
commission to succeed Sir William Berkeley in his office of 
governor, with commissioners to investigate the causes of the 
rebellion. 

When this fleet returned to England Berkeley went with 
it, leaving forever the scene of his arbitrary power. The old 
cavalier was ill and broken in spirit. He sank rapidly after 
he arrived, without seeing the king, with whom he would fain 
have pleaded his cause. In a few weeks he died, broken- 
hearted and disgraced, " which shuts up this tragedy," as an 
old writer says in his conclusion of it. 

The condition of the colony was by no means improved 
after Bacon's rebellion. Culpepper, who came out shortly 
afterward as governor, had no particular interest in the col- 
ony beyond carrying out the orders with which he had been 



98 "history of the united states. 

intrusted. He was not a Virginian and cared very little 
about Virginia. He was ordered in his instructions to curtail 
the popular power so as to leave little more than a mere 
show of self-government. The franchise was restricted. The 
calling of assemblies was rendered dependent on the crown, 
and when assembled they had no power to originate legislation 
but only to confirm or reject laws drafted by the crown. 
Culpepper was desirous of standing well with both sides — 
the colony and the home goverament ; so he applied the laws 
which had been intrusted to him as leniently as he might, and 
returned to England, leaving a deputy. He returned shortly, 
but in a year or two was superseded by Lord Howard, of Ef- 
fingham. By this time James H. had come to the throne, and 
Howard's proceedings in the colony bore a strong resem- 
blance to those of his master in England and his co-laborer, 
Sir Edmund Andros, in New England. 

The revolution of 1688 made little change in the Virginia 
colony. Their energies had been exhausted by Bacon's re- 
bellion, and they gained nothing by the change in dynasty 
at home. Howard continued to be governor, although, as he 
preferred to reside in England, he was generally represented 
by deputy. He was succeeded by Sir Edmund Andros in 
1692. Virginia was not fortunate in her royal governors. 

We should note here the founding of the town of Williams- 
burg as capitol of the colony, and more especially the estab- 
lishment, in 1692, of the second college in the country, to 
which was given the name of William and Mary, in honor of 
the new dynasty. 



NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA. 99 



CHAPTER IX. 

Ne^A^ York and Pennsylvania. 

Quakers — New Jersey — Second Attempt to Colonize by William Penn in 
Pennsylvania — Delaware — Peace in America — Struggle Between Peo- 
ple and Proprietors — Non-warlike Character of the People — Leisler 
in New York — Attack on Schenectady — Suppression of Piracy — Ex- 
ecution of Kidd — Governor and Assembly. 

IN studying the settlement of New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
vania we again meet with the people called Quakers, no 
longer the eccentric individuals, half-deluded by religious 
excitement, and half-crazed by ill-treatment, who gave the 
Puritans of Massachusetts so favorable a chance to show 
which side they would take in the great question of tolera- 
tion ; no longer the fanatic and turbulent religious zealots 
who by their wild proceedings called to recollection the 
atrocities of the Anabaptists at Miinster. William Penn was 
the son of an admiral who served England well. Bred up with 
care, he received the usual education of his day, and went to 
Oxford, as did other sons of English gentlemen. But here 
he showed tendencies toward religious views which seemed 
strange and uncouth to his immediate contemporaries. For- 
eign travel improved his natural advantages, and when he 
came back from the Continent he was as refined and elegant 
a gentleman as any in England. Imagine the astonishment 
of his friends when it was found that he had embraced the 
doctrines of the " man in leathern breeches " — that he had be- 
come a member of a contemned and almost unknown sect. 
Yet so it was. Penn was, indeed^ the most eminent of the 
English Quakers, as far as worldly position is concerned, and 
above the average in manners and intellect. Yet it seems no 
less doubtful that in twenty years the body of Friends had 



100 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

immeasurably improved, and now were something far more 
noble and dignified than if represented only by the sack- 
cloth wearers of whom we hear in previous history. 

New Jersey was at first a part of that large tract of country 
granted by Charles II. to his brother, James, Duke of York. 
By this latter the country was sold to two of those noblemen, 
about the court of Charles II., whose minds turned toward 
making a fortune in America. Lord Berkeley and Sir George 
Carteret obtained a piece of territory of great value, contain- 
ing nearly all the sea-coast in the whole grant. There were at 
the time but few settlers in the country, some Dutch, some 
Swedes, some New Englanders. The territory, with New 
York, passed into the hands of the Dutch during the war in 
1673, but at the peace of Breda again reverted to England, 
then to the Duke of York again, and so to the former pro- 
prietaries. But affairs by no means prospered, and Berkeley 
sold his share to certain Quakers, who had a desire to set up 
a colony in the New World as a refuge for their persecuted 
sect. With this aim in view they applied to their co-proprie- 
tary. Sir George Carteret, for a division of the territory, and 
as a consequence two colonies were made — East and West 
New Jersey. The Quakers at once set to work to colonize 
West New Jersey, their share, which was almost uninhabited 
and thus suitable for new colonization. In the latter years of 
Charles II. many Quakers emigrated and settled in the coun- 
try. Some years after the purchase of West New Jersey, Sir 
George Carteret died, and his assigns sold his rights in the 
other Jersey to twelve Quakers, who, encouraged by the suc- 
cess of the co-religionists, desired to imitate them. In both 
these purchases William Penn had a share, but no attempt 
was made to make this latter colony distinctly Quaker, for 
there were already many settlers in the region. Certain 
Scotchmen associated themselves in the venture, and many 
Scotch emigrated. In both the colonies was there liberty of 
worship and of political rights. No taxes were to be laid 
without the consent of the people. The proprietaries had the 
right of appointment of officers and the right of veto. Such 



NEW JERSEY. lOI 

was the history of the settlement of the Jerseys. The ar- 
rangements described lasted until 1702, when the proprietaries, 
who had not wholly made good their views in the matter* 
and who had become weary of the many disputes which had 
from time to time arisen, sold their rights to the crown. The 
two colonies were joined, and a royal government was ar- 
ranged for New Jersey much on the pattern of the other royal 
provinces. 

The experiments in New Jersey having failed of success for 
more reasons than one, William Penn desired to try once 
more under rather more encouraging conditions. In 1680 
he obtained from Charles II. a grant of land, to which the 
name of Pennsylvania was given, and a charter as proprietary 
thereof. The deed of land included forty thousand square 
miles of the territory between Maryland and New York. Like 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania was a distinctly bounded territory. 
The other colonies as a rule were held to run to the Pacific, 
and hence the necessity of the cessions of public land after 
the Revolutionary War. Pennsylvania had a western bound- 
ary. As soon as Penn set forward the scheme for his colony 
large numbers of Quakers were ready to emigrate. The pro- 
visions for government were of the broadest character. There 
was to be perfect liberty of conscience. There was to be 
political freedom. There was to be judicial protection for 
the Indian as well as the white man. Emigration became 
active at once and so continued for some years. Before the 
end of the century the colony numbered twenty thousand. 
The first settlers went forth in 1681. In the next year Penn 
himself followed, with others. The government had already 
been established by commissioners sent out by him, and an 
assembly had been called. As soon as Penn arrived a body of 
law was drawn up on the principles which he had set forward. 
He proceeded to deal with the Indians. Having purchased 
his land of Charles II. in deference to the public law of the 
time, Penn proceeded, in accordance with his own ideas of 
equity, to purchase it again of the Indian owners. With these 
last, said he, the English would always be just, and would 



102 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

always be at peace. As in West New Jersey, the Indians 
promised to be faithful friends of the whites. " You are our 
brothers," the chiefs had then said, " and we will live like 
brothers with you. We will have a broad path for you and us 
to walk in. If an Englishman falls asleep in this path the 
Indian shall pass him by and say, 'He is an Englishman; he 
is asleep; let him alone.' " And Penn now said to the Indians, 
*' We are the same as if one man's body were to be divided 
into two parts; we are all one flesh and blood." At a little 
distance from the great tree at Shackamaxon under which the 
compact was made Penn named the site for the city of Phila- 
delphia, and ordered a house to be built for himself. 

Lower down the river were " the three counties on the 
Delaware," as they were called. Originally settled by the 
Dutch, who had been driven away by the Indians, the country 
had passed into the hands of the Swedes in the time of Gus- 
tavus Adolphus. For some time it was held by them, but 
came later into the possession of the Dutch, and, then, when 
New Netherlands changed hands, into the power of the En- 
glish. It was regarded as a part of the province of the Duke 
of York, but Penn had managed to gain that prince's assent 
to have it added to his other domain, for he saw the necessity 
of having free access to the ocean. 

Penn remained in America for two years. At the end of 
that time, having made a fair beginning, he returned to En- 
gland for a time. He had organized and arranged the form 
of government for his colony; he had made stable arrange- 
ments with the Indians; he had succeeded in carrying through 
his plans to the contentment and satisfaction of his settlers. 
The only troubles had been with Maryland, on the south, re- 
garding boundaries, and on the north with New York, as to 
the jurisdiction of certain territory. He left the government 
of the province to the president, secretary, and a council. 
While he was absent matters did not run as smoothly as be- 
fore, owing to dissatisfaction on the part of the settlers with 
the officers whom he had left. Affairs were by no means set- 
tled by the appointment of some new officials. Not only were 



PENNSYLVANIA. IO3 

there political quarrels, but religious disturbances were added. 
A violent schismatic, George Keith by name, was confined in 
prison on account of his proceedings, and, though it appears 
that the colony acted by no means severely, the affair was 
magnified in England, and the government was taken from 
Penn and transferred to a royal commission. Fletcher, the 
royal governor, proceeded to endeavor to carry through cer- 
tain innovations, and affairs were in a very bad position. In 
1694, however, Penn received justice at the hands of William 
and Mary, and received back the government, for which he 
sent out a deputy, who managed to arrange matters to the 
satisfaction of the people. In 1699 Penn himself came out 
from England, intending to pass the remainder of his life in 
his colony. New changes in the form of government were 
made; but in 1701, Penn, learning that attempts were being 
made in England to take away his patent, once more sailed 
for that country and never returned. 

In the succeeding history of Pennsylvania there are two 
tendencies noticeable. One is the continual struggle between 
the people and the proprietaries ; the other is the indifference 
displayed, on account of Quaker principles, to any connection 
with the warlike proceedings of the other colonies. Penn- 
sylvania, being at peace with the Indians within her bound- 
aries, made no contributions, or reluctant contributions at 
best, to the various expeditions which the other colonies made 
against the French and Indians, and took no part in the con- 
stant struggles with French or Spanish which disturbed the 
northern and southern colonies. The colony was practically 
self-governed, the power of the proprietaries was reduced to 
a minimum, and, though there were constant disagreements 
in regard to many matters, the colony on the whole flourished 
exceedingly. 

In the southern colonies the Revolution had been accepted 
easily, and the events of 1688 had hardly caused any change 
save that of governors. In the northern colonies, gathered 
all together into one province and oppressed by the rigorous 
rule of Sir Edmund Andros, the ending of one system and the 



104 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

beginning of another was not effected without some little 
disturbance. We have already traced the proceedings in New 
England. 

In New York a more lengthened struggle took place. The 
people of that colony were by no means homogeneous. There 
were Dutch, English, and New Englanders, and many others. 
On the news of William's landing in England and of the 
imprisonment of Andros the lieutenant-governor practically 
abdicated. Jacob Leisler, a captain in the militia and a man 
of influence among the Dutch, seized the power and pro- 
claimed the Prince of Orange. The temporary government 
set up by him and his followers was confirmed by King 
William. But he was by no means the representative of the 
whole colony. The richer Dutch proprietors, the remains of 
Nicholson's government, and many of the English in the 
province, were bitterly opposed to him. His proceedings 
were not such as to reconcile opposition. He was harsh and 
arbitrary and knew but little of government. The militia 
sided with him, and he seized upon the town of New York 
and the fort, while his opponents retired to Albany, where 
they too proclaimed William III., and set forth their intention 
not to submit to Leisler. This continued for some time. In 
1691 a governor was sent from England, Slaughter by name; 
but he was preceded by Major Ingoldsby with troops, who 
demanded of Leisler the surrender of the fort. Leisler re- 
fused, for Ingoldsby held no commission from the governor. 
Protesting his readiness to obey the governor, or his order, 
Leisler held the fort against the British troops, and even fired 
on them. On Slaughter's arrival he surrendered, and was at 
once imprisoned, and he and seven of the principal of his 
adherents were tried for murder and treason and found 
guilty. All were reprieved save Leisler and Milbourne, his 
son-in-law. Slaughter was persuaded, while drunk, to sign 
the warrants for their death, and both were hanged. It was 
a cruel and unnecessary act, though, perhaps, justified by 
technicalities. 

During the administration of Leisler occurred one of the 



SCHENECTADY. IO5 

most famous of the many Indian massacres in the history of 
the French and Indian wars. 

The town of Schenectady lies sixteen or seventeen miles 
west from Albany, on the Mohawk River. In 1690 it was 
the frontier town of the colony next the Mohawk country. 
It was palisaded ; having two gates, one facing toward Albany 
and the other toward the west. Within the palisade were 
nearly eighty houses, the dwellings of the inhabitants, about 
two hundred in number, nearly all Dutch, and therefore at 
this time were all standing for Leisler, and at variance with 
Captain Talmage and such Connecticut militiamen in the 
block house as were under orders from Albany, where the 
anti-Leislerites had control. The village, being divided 
against itself, took no thought of any danger and left both 
gates open. 

Count Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, now saw an 
auspicious time for an attack on the southern colonies, desir- 
ing both to encourage his Indian allies and to strike terror 
into the Mohawks, whom he was now tempting to leave the 
English and join him. He prepared to attack the frontier 
homes of Maine, New Hampshire, and New York. The last 
named expedition was ready first. Starting from Montreal 
in the middle of winter, about two hundred men, some 
Indians and some Canadians, took their way southward. 
They reached Lake Champlain and held their way toward 
the head of the lake on the ice. Here they had a council. 
The Indians demanded the object of the expedition. The 
leaders said they were to attack Albany. The Indians 
grumbled and the whole expedition apparently thought it a 
dangerous undertaking, for, on proceeding farther south, where 
the road parted, they all took the left-hand road leading to 
Schenectady. The weather was very bad. They took more 
time in reaching Schenectady from this point than it had 
taken all the way from Montreal. They waded in the snow 
and mud up to their knees. vVs they approached the town 
it became colder. They were in a miserable condition, for 

they did not dare to light a fire for fear of alarming the 
5* 



I06 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

inhabitants. They crossed the river on the ice a little above 
the town, and about midnight stood before the western gate, 
where, it is said, the inhabitants had erected a snow man to 
serve as guard for the gate. But this guard gave no alarm, 
and the French and Indians entered the palisade and sur- 
rounded the houses. At a given signal they rushed upon the 
inhabitants. It was the night after a festivity, and the Dutch 
were sleeping soundly. The massacre was cruel in the 
extreme. Men, women and children were killed to the num- 
ber of almost half the inhabitants. A few escaped, one of 
them jumping on a horse and riding out of the east gate to 
Albany, where he gave the alarm. The rest were made prison- 
ers and the town was set on fire, and the war party started for 
Canada. At Albany a pursuit was organized, but with no 
important results. The pursuers started several days behind 
their foes. Following them rapidly, they came on a detached 
party of Indians, near Montreal, and cut them to pieces. 

This was one of the worst blows that was struck from 
Canada until the great French and Indian war. It is typical 
enough of the fighting which continued with uncertain ces- 
sations for half a century more. Fletcher, who succeeded 
Slaughter as governor, was not unsuccessful in his Indian 
wars. The Mohawks repaid the French expedition by war 
parties that reached almost to Montreal, and Major Peter 
Schuyler, with two hundred and fifty English, Dutch, 
Mohawks and Mohegans made a raid which penetrated Can- 
ada, did much harm, and retreated in safety, though they 
narrowly escaped being utterly destroyed. 

In other respects, however, Fletcher was not successful, 
and the colony was well pleased when he was recalled and 
the Earl of Bellomont was appointed in his stead. This noble- 
man came to the New World desiring to do his best in 
government. He was only partially successful. He was 
given the government of New York, Massachusetts, and New 
Hampshire, and one of his chief desires was to be able to sup- 
press the piracy which existed on the coast. But here he 
was not wholly successful. William Kidd, who had been 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. I07 

sent out to suppress the pirates, saw more profit in joining 
them. Bellomont had been implicated with him before he 
had been sent out, and he now, of course, particularly desired 
to bring Kidd to justice. This was done and Kidd was exe- 
cuted. But a certain amount of suspicion attached itself to 
Bellomont in the transaction. He died while in office, 
in 1701, 

New York history, for the next fifty years, is to be 
traced, chiefly, in the Indian wars and in the quarrels between 
governor and Assembly. The royal governors were perpet- 
ually endeavoring to compel the people to acknowledge more 
and more the power of the king and parliament, and the people 
were as vigorous to assert their own rights. The reluctance of 
the Assembly to vote the governor a regular salary, and the 
attempts to enforce the navigation laws and other matters, 
make up a continued state of quarreling. The French, too, 
had more easy access to New York than to the other colo- 
nies, by the way of Lake Champlain and Lake George, and, 
although there were no more massacres like that at Schenec- 
tady, there were almost continual Indian troubles. 



I08 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER X. 

New England for Sixty Years. 

The Government of Massachusetts — Sir William Phips — Capture of Port 
Royal — Unsuccessful Expedition Against Quebec — The New Charter 
— Maine and New Hampshire — Capture of York — Witchcraft — A 
Special Commission for the Trial — Connecticut Under the Old Charter 
— Foundation of Yale College — Expedition to Jamaica — Capture of 
Louisburg. 

THE government made by the men of Massachusetts 
Bay after the suppression of Andros was only a temporary 
makeshift, and as such was it understood on all hands. The 
charter, having been vacated by regular process of law, could 
not be resumed, as had those of Connecticut and Rhode Isl- 
and. This provisional government lasted, however, for more 
than three years, and for that length of time the minds of 
men were unsettled, it being in no way certain what manner of 
charter William of Orange might be ready to grant. It must 
by no means be imagined that, because William was him 
self opposed to the Stuarts, his ideas as to colonial govern- 
ment would be diametrically opposed to theirs. There 
was not, on the whole, so very great difference in their 
general principles in that respect. Both held to the econom- 
ical principles of the day in supposing that the colony must 
enrich the mother country, and both were disinclined, by 
nature, to part with any portion of their prerogative in govern- 
ing any of their subjects. In one respect William would be 
an improvement — there would be no danger of religious in- 
tolerance. But as for the dependency of Massachusetts, and 
the Navigation act, it was probable that they would be in- 
sisted upon as vigorously by William as they had been by 
Charles and James. 



SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. IO9 

For the present, however, Sir William Phips, who came over 
with the order for the proclamation of William and Mary, also 
bore with him the expression of the king's pleasure that the 
provisional government should continue until other arrange- 
ments might be made. 

Sir William Phips is a romantic figure in the history of this 
period. Born in 1650, in a little settlement on the Kennebec 
River, one of twenty-six children by one mother, he received 
little or no education. He passed his youth in farm labor. 
On attaining manhood, however, he became a ship-carpenter, 
moved down to Boston, married a widow older and richer 
than himself, learned to read and write, and became confident 
of rising in the world, though still at a loss as to the exact 
means. About this time his mind became full of a sufficiently 
wild project for going to the West Indies in search of a sunk- 
en Spanish ship laden with silver, which had been wrecked 
some half a century before. He carried this scheme through. 
He went to England, obtained by some means a king's ship 
and after one unsuccessful attempt obtained the treasure, worth 
a million and a half dollars in the value of money in that 
day. With this he returned to England, where he was knight- 
ed and offered a position in the royal navy. But he preferred 
to return to New England, and did so. 

At this time the Maine and New Hampshire frontier was 
suffering from French and Indian raids. The colony deter- 
mined to strike a blow at Port Royal, from whence issued 
privateers to the damage of their commerce. Sir William 
Phips was given the command of the expedition and achieved 
success. That is to say. Port Royal surrendered, and the 
French fort at the mouth of the St. John was taken and 
destroyed. But his success in this direction inspired the col- 
ony to undertake a more difficult expediton, which turned 
out less fortunately. This was nothing less than an attempt 
to capture Quebec, the stronghold and capital of New France. 
From Montreal, Three Rivers and Quebec, the French and 
Indian war parties found little difficulty in making raids on 
the exposed English colonies on the Connecticut River or on 



no HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the back settlements of New Hampshire and Maine. The 
English found it difficult to retaliate. From Boston to Que- 
bec by land was no easy expedition, and no victory short of 
one at Quebec would do service. But the English had the ad- 
vantage by sea. From Boston, as it proved afterward. New 
Englanders could be put on board ships and landed at Port 
Royal, at Louisburg, or at Quebec, where operations might be 
conducted with no small success. Such, however, was not the 
lot of the present expedition. When Phips, after many trials 
and delays, cast anchor off Quebec, he found himself before a 
superior force, sheltered behind impregnable fortifications^ 
After some fruitless cannonading and some land fighting he 
had nothing to do but to turn round and race back to New 
England. Nothing came of the expedition save the depletion 
of the Massachusetts treasury and the consequent issue of 
paper money, the first in a long series of disastrous financial 
experiments. 

On his return from Quebec Phips was sent by the colony 
to England, to assist Mather and the other agents in their la- 
bors in getting as favorable a charter as possible from the 
king. On the 14th of May, 1692, he returned to Boston with 
the new charter, being himself commissioned as governor of 
the Province of Massachusetts Bay, The new charter was by 
no means as favorable in respect to the independence of 
Massachusetts as had been the former one, as interpreted by 
its patentees. But it had been difficult for Mather to procure 
one even so good. The old colonies of Massachusetts and 
Plymouth, together with Maine, Nova Scotia, and such coun- 
try as was included between them, were to constitute the Prov- 
ince of Massachusetts Bay. The governor, lieutenant-gov- 
ernor and secretary were to be named by the king for an 
indefinite period. The legislative department consisted of 
a council of twenty-eight, named at first by the king, and a 
house of representatives made up of deputies elected two 
by each town. This was small measure for the people who 
had been accustomed to name the governor, assistants and dep- 
uties themselves- In the Legislature, so made up, all bills 



INDIAN RAIDS. Ill 

required the assent of the governor and were subject also to 
the veto of the king within three years. The governor 
was commander-in-chief of the militia and had the appoint- 
ment of military officers. He had also the appointment of 
all judges and officers of justice, subject to confirmation by 
the council. The qualification for the ballot was no longer re- 
ligious, but depended on property. Liberty of conscience was 
granted to all Protestants. In certain cases appeal lay to the 
king in council in England. This charter took more away 
from the independency of the colonies than had been de- 
manded of them by Charles 11. 

The French and Indian wars continued with much vigor 
on the frontier to the north and with slight abatements for 
half a century. Being nearest to Canada, Maine and New 
Hampshire were by far the most exposed of all the New 
England colonies, more, even, than New York ; for at the very 
north of the line of towns on the Hudson which made up 
that colony stood Albany, far too formidable to fear any 
slight Indian raids such as desolated the border country of 
New England. Even in the time of Andros the French had 
made such common cause with the Indians of Maine, that 
the governor had been forced to make an expedition against 
them ; and after the Revolution, at the approach of war be- 
tween France and England, the fury and vigor of this frontier 
warfare increased. Count Frontenac was at this time at the 
head of affairs in Canada ; a strong and able old man, well 
used to handling the Indians, and as capable of doing what 
could be done in his position as any governor New France 
ever had. 

The capture of York, January 25, 1692, is a good example 
of the fearful sufferings of attackers and attacked in this bor- 
der warfare. A hundred and fifty converted Indians, urged 
on by the French priests, took the war-path in the dead of win- 
ter, well provided with guns and ammunition. After a long 
and terrible march they neared York, one of the frontier set- 
tlements, a town of perhaps then a few hundred inhabitants. 
The morning after their arrival a heavy snow fell. Surround- 



112 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ing the village early in the evening they attacked it from both 
sides. One party rushed into the block house, where the 
women were gathered, others ran through the other houses, kill- 
ing or taking captive all whom they met. About a hundred 
of both sexes were killed, about eighty were taken into cap- 
tivity, and the rest fled into two or three fortified houses, where 
they were not attacked. The Indians shortly after withdrew, 
and after setting the town on fire, and destroying all the farm- 
houses and cattle in the fields around, took up their march 
into the forest with their booty. Such terrors were not uncom- 
mon in Maine or New Hampshire. There were many more 
atrocious massacres, many more vigorous defenses ; but this is 
a fair illustration of the terrors of frontier life at this time and 
for many years. The reader knows that New Hampshire was 
now no part of the province of Massachusetts Bay, the claims 
of Mason having been declared valid by the law officers of 
England. New Hampshire was, therefore, a proprietary prov- 
ince, the proprietor at this time being Samuel Allen, who 
had purchased the title from Mason. He received the royal 
commission as governor, but the government of the province 
was organized by John Usher, who had been appointed Lieu- 
tenant-governor. 

The first proceeding of the Provincial Government of 
Massachusetts was one whose consequences have covered the 
Commonwealth with an undeserved infamy. We refer to the 
court commissioned by Phips to try the witchcraft cases. 
The belief in witchcraft in those days was in every Christian 
country well-nigh universal. In England, not long before 
this, witches in considerable numbers had suffered death by 
fire, and in New England there had been three or four exe- 
cutions for the same cause before the breaking out of what is 
generally known as " the Witchcraft Delusion." The people 
of that day saw much that was supernatural in the phenom- 
ena of this world; they solved a portion of the mystery by 
ascribing it to the devil and his agents, finding authority in 
their interpretation of Scripture. During the usurpation of 
Andros there had been a case of witchcraft in Boston, 



SALEM WITCHCRAFT. II3 

wherein a wretched Irish woman, on the evidence of four 
young children whom she was supposed to mysteriously tor- 
ture, was tried, condemned, and executed. Cotton Mather, 
one of the leading ministers of the colony, though at that 
time still young, became intensely interested in the case, and 
his credulous excitment aroused the feelings of the people. 
Some three or four years afterward, in " Salem Village," 
another case occurred. The children of Samuel Parris, the 
clergyman of " Salem Village," became greatly affected 
through the evil agency of witches. They underwent pullings 
and pinchings and prickings ; they cried out, imitating the 
noises of dogs or cats ; they were thrown into convulsions and 
spasms. They interrupted public worship by their cries. The 
case was inquired into and they confessed that they had been 
bewitched, and finally named three old women as the causes 
of their afflictions. The accused were at once examined and 
committed to jail for trial. The children cried out against 
some others, women of most excellent character. Many 
other accusations followed. Among those arrested were 
Burroughs, a minister, English, a well-to-do merchant, Mill- 
ard, the constable, who had arrested some of the earliei; 
witches, but who was now convinced of his error. These 
were all lodged in jail with others, making nearly a hundred 
in number at the arrival of the royal governor. 

Phips at once, with no especial authority for so doing, 
constituted a special commission for the trial of the accused. 
William Stoughton, a bigoted and narrow man, was made the 
chief justice. The court at once organized and proceeded to 
its work. Bridget Bishop was tried, and shortly hanged. A 
month later five more women were executed. At the next 
session six were condemned and hanged, among them Bur- 
roughs, the minister, and during the next month nine more 
were executed. All this was done at Salem. The epidemic 
had not as yet spread farther. But in the autumn many at 
Andover were accused. The charge of witchcraft ran riot 
through Essex County. Over four hundred persons had 
been " cried out " upon. Of these some had saved them- 



114 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

selves by confession, some were in jail awaiting trial, and many 
more were under accusation. Twenty had been executed. 
Nor did the brute creation escape the infection. Two dogs 
had been found guilty of acting as accomplices in the crime 
and had paid the extreme penalty. But the end of such 
absurdities was near. Accusations were made of persons 
high in position and of known purity of life. Mrs. Hale, the 
wife of the minister of Beverly, and even Lady Phips were 
suspected. But at this time the special commission had 
adjourned for two months. Before it could convene again, the 
General Court had met and had arranged the regular legal 
establishment according to the charter. This court pro- 
ceeded more slowly. Only a few of the presentments were 
followed up. Only a few of these accused were found guilty, 
and all the condemned were pardoned. The public mind 
began to see the delusion it had labored under. It began to 
be clear to sensible persons that they had been cruelly mis- 
taken, in following as far as they had done the wicked fancies 
of children and their credulous relations. The witchcraft 
delusion was over. Many of those prominent in it recog- 
nized their error and confessed their failing witli true grief 
of heart. Some were still firm, but the general feeling of the 
community was as though men had been delivered from a 
nightmare. 

The administration of Sir William Phips was by no means 
successful. He quarreled with every one, was recalled in 
1694 to answer complaints, and died the next year. Stough- 
ton, the lieutenant-governor, was at the head of the admin- 
istration for some time, and was shortly after succeeded by 
the Earl of Bellomont, who was in time succeeded by Joseph 
Dudley, the former president of the country. During his 
administration and those immediately following almost the 
only point to be noted by the general reader, is a long-con- 
tinued quarrel between succeeding governors and assemblies. 
The governors, in accordance with their instructions, always 
demanded a fixed salary. The Assembly invariably refused 
such a concession and forced each governor to content him- 



CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND. II 5 

self with yearly grants of such sums as seemed good to them. 
The governor desired to be independent. The assemblies 
desired to have some control over him. The point of princi- 
ple involved was that a fixed grant would be in the nature 
of a tax imposed by another authority, and to this they were 
unwilling to submit. The assemblies insisted on their right 
to tax themselves and grant their own money as they chose. 
The time was taken up in perpetual broils and bickerings. 

Such was, fortunately, not the condition of Connecticut, 
whose history, however, through this period is not more 
eventful than that of Massachusetts. On the accession of 
William and Mary the colony sent a congratulatory address 
and requested a confirmation of its charter, which had been 
revoked in a less formal manner than that of Massachusetts. 
No answer was given to this request, and Connecticut con- 
tinued to exist very happily under her old charter, by which 
she had more measure of liberty than was granted in Massa- 
chusetts. The colonists enjoyed a government wholly their 
own, there were no royal nominees to quarrel with the rep- 
resentatives of the people, and the administration of the col- 
ony was carried on quietly and successfully. Connecticut 
was spared the misery of the Indian inroads which desolated 
the frontier towns to the north-east and north-west. Her 
inhabitants had but little connection with the Indian wars on 
this account, and knew nothing of such misfortunes as the 
failure of the expedition to Quebec. We should not neglect 
to note the foundation in 1701 of Yale College. 

The history of their neighbors in Rhode Island was not so 
peaceful. The people had not had so much pleasure in the 
revolution, for the firm and arbitrary rule of Andros had 
been a not unpleasant change from the constant quarrelings 
among themselves which had previously gone on. They 
resumed their charter, which they had given up, and it served 
them very well for all practical purposes, even down so 
far as 1840. There were constant quarrels between them 
and their neighbors. Phips differed with them in regard to 
their militia, which he pretended to have the right to com- 



Il6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

mand. Connecticut quarreled about the boundary line. 
Bellomont, who had the extermination of piracy at heart, 
found n)uch to complain of in Rhode Island, whose deeply 
indented shore offered most convenient resort for buccaneers. 
All over the coast of Rhode Island are places where men say 
that " Kidd buried his treasure." Indeed, the Rhode Island- 
ers at this time had no very good reputation on the high 
seas. The vessels commissioned as privateers in the late war 
with France had, it was charged, been nothing better than 
pirates sailing on their cruises to " Madagascar and the seas 
of India," as Bellomont remarked, by whose booty the place 
had " been greatly enriched." The Rhode Islanders were 
not vigorous in the Indian wars, from which they suffered lit- 
tle, alleging their danger from attack by sea ; but when, in 
1740, the expedition to Jamaica was set on foot, they were by 
no means unwilling to furnish men and vessels for what 
seemed at first to be a congenial occupation. 

The most important of the military proceedings of the 
New England colonies during tliis period was tlie capture of 
Louisburg, the French stronghold in the Island of Cape 
Breton. In 1744 the French seized the English settlement 
at Canseau and threatened Annapolis, which had then for a 
long time been in English hands. They carried their prison- 
ers to Louisburg. On their return on parole the prisoners 
gave word to Shirley, then governor of Massachusetts, of the 
weakness of the place. Shirley decided to attempt its cap- 
ture. The Legislature upheld him, though by a majority of 
one only. An army was rapidly made up. Connecticut 
and New Hampshire sent men to join the Massachusetts 
levies. New York and Pennsylvania sent a small store of 
provisions and ammunition. The expedition, one hundred 
vessels and nearly four thousand men, reached Cape Breton 
about the end of April, 1745, and was there joined by an 
English squadron, under Commodore Warren, which was of 
great service throughout the siege in keeping away such rein- 
forcements as were sent from France. A landing was 
effected near Louisburg on the last day of April. 



LOUISBURG TAKEN. II7 

The town was a fortified place of great strength, though 
not well garrisoned. The walls were more than twenty feet 
high and twice as thick at the base, and mounted one hun- 
dred and eighty-three pieces of ordnance. Besides these 
there was an island battery defending the harbor with thirty 
guns. The garrison consisted of sixteen hundred men, of 
whom only a third were regular soldiers, the others being 
country militia. The New Englanders had little or no 
knowledge of war in general, or of siege operations in par- 
ticular. Their commander was William Pepperell, a merchant, 
and their officers were all volunteers chosen from among 
the soldiers, and having no more knowledge of arms than 
their men. They had but eighteen cannon and three mortars. 
But, forcing a landing with great vigor, they established them- 
selves before the town, compelling the French to desert an 
important outpost of which they at once seized the guns. 
They undertook no scientific siege works, but erec'ed bat- 
teries on the land side of the city, and encamped in the open 
air, having no tents. With various fortunes the siege contin- 
ued. It was finally decided to attempt to storm the walls 
while the fleet kept up a vigorous bombardment. At this 
moment a French man-of-war sailed into the harbor with 
military supplies and was at once captured by the English 
fleet before the eyes of the town. The eff"ect was good for 
the New Englanders. The place capitulated on the 17th of 
June, a day or two afterward. On entering the town tlie 
victors were amazed at seeing the strength of the place. This 
was a great and mighty achievement for New England. The 
French endeavored to recover it, but without success. At 
Aix-la-Chapelle, however, when peace was made Louisburg 
was restored, greatly to the disappointment of the vigorous 
colonists, who had spent such efforts in its capture. 



Il8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XI. 

The Southern Colonies from 1700-1754. 

Position of Virginia — Exploring Spirit of Alexander Spotswood — Knighted 
by George I. — Dinwiddie as Governor — Condition of Maryland and 
the Carolinas — Religious Difficulties — Resources of the Carolinas — 
Pirates — English Settlements— Oglethorpe's Plan for a Colony — Ger- ' 
man Emigrants — The Colonial Laws — War With Spain — Attack on 
St. Augustine — Oglethorpe Returns to England — Georgia Becomes a 
Royal Province. 

VIRGINIA, as well as Maryland and Pennsylvania, 
possessed one advantage over her neighbors to 
the north and south. From the Indian war in Bacon's 
time until Braddock's defeat near Fort Duquesne she en- 
joyed uninterrupted peace. The power of the Indians with- 
in her borders was utterly broken. There were no French 
on her frontiers, as with New York and New England; there 
were no Spaniards, as was tlie case with the Carolinas and 
Georgia ; nor was the colony of such a character as to invite 
attack in any one of England's continental wars during these 
years. Virginia presented no definite point of attack, and no 
expeditions were made against her. The population had in- 
creased, material prosperity had long since begun, the gov- 
ernors were, on the whole, of a worthy character, and the lot 
of the colony was coinparatively happy. The only jars came 
from the constant and petty quarrels of the burgesses with 
the governor on matters of small moment. It is probable, 
however, that the position of the burgesses in this respect had 
a good effect in training the people to political thoughtfulness. 
Alexander Spotswood, who caine to Virginia as deputy- 
governor* in 1 710, was of Scotch parentage and trained in 

* lord Orkney was titular governor from 1704-1744, but he remained in England, re 
ceiving £1,200 as profit for so doing. The governing was done by others. 



SIR ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD. 1 19 

the English army. He seems to have been one of the best 
of the colonial governors, his thoughts given to the welfare 
of the province, for which he did much in various ways, 
although the people were by no means always ready to adopt 
his proposals. His mind, " so long engaged in the immense 
field of European politics," could not rest within the narrow 
boundaries set by the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Virginia 
planters, and he often turned his thoughts to the broad region 
beyond the Alleghanies, at this time unknown and unexplored 
by white men. He resolved to do something in the way of 
exploration, and easily gathered together a party of the choice 
spirits of the Old Dominion with whom he set forth to cross 
the mountains and see the country beyond. They crossed 
the Blue Ridge and, it is said, the Alleghanies beyond, and 
descended into the fertile country of Kentucky, with which 
they were delighted. They returned, with glowing accounts 
of the region, " to recount their discoveries to those who had 
not in person enjoyed them." Spotswood was knighted by 
George I. as a reward for this proceeding, and was given as 
a coat of arms a golden horseshoe with the motto, " Sic jurat 
transcendere montes." And tradition runs that at Williams- 
burg was then founded the order known as the " Knights of 
the Golden Horseshoe," though neither history nor fable has 
further account of the matter. 

In 1723 Spotswood was superseded and retired to his 
plantations in Spotsylvania. He was followed by Drysdale, 
and he by Gooch, under whose government the province fared 
well. In 1752 Robert Dinwiddie was sent out; he acted as 
deputy-governor for six years. He was an energetic and 
zealous man, but it does not appear that his abilities were 
great or that his proceedings were always in the right direc- 
tion. He was by no means regretted when he retired. As 
soon as he arrived he got into difficulties with the burgesses, 
with whom he was, to begin with, unpopular through former 
proceedings as collector of customs. But the chief matter of 
note in Dinwiddie's administration is the beginning of active 
relations with the great western country. Dinwiddie by no 



120 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

means followed Spotswood in his romantic ride with the 
Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, but others passed the 
mountains at first for trade and exploration. The Virginia 
traders swarmed across the mountains to traffic with the In- 
dians and there met with the French, with results which will 
be stated in another chapter. 

In Maryland the latter part of the seventeenth century was 
one of decline. The proprietary had been displaced after 
the Revolution and the colony had been taken by the crown. 
The result was that the toleration which had so long existed 
in the colony was for a time at an end. The Anglican Church 
was established by law, and taxes were laid for its mainte- 
nance. In addition to this, although other Protestant sects 
were tolerated, Roman Catholics and Quakers were severely 
used. These two elements were strong in the colony, and the 
effect of the royal policy was not good. In 17 15 the then 
Lord Baltimore became a Protestant, and the proprietary 
rights were vested, at his death, in his son. For a long time 
after his, some forty years or so, events in Maryland passed 
smoothly. As in Virginia, there were no Indian wars nor fear 
of foreign disturbance, and the only difficulties arose from 
the disagreements between the governors and the Assembly. 

In the history of the Carolinas in the first half of the 
eighteenth century it is difficult to fix upon any leading prin- 
ciple. The government of the Quaker Archdale, in 1695-6, 
had been most satisfactory to all concerned, and in the years 
immediately following the good relations between the colony 
and its neighbors and its proprietors had not been disturbed. 
In the opening years of the next century, however, certain 
tendencies and desires were manifest among the proprietors 
and their adherents which promised disturbance. The mat- 
ter of religious toleration seemed as though it might prove a 
stumbling-block. Immediately after Archdale's departure 
liberty of conscience had been decreed to all forms of Chris- 
tians save Romanists. In 1704, by means of political chi- 
canery an act was passed in the Assembly whereby all 
dissenters from the Church of England were disfranchised, 



THE CAROLINAS. 121 

and political power was reserved to those who would conform 
to that Church. The proprietors were well pleased to assent 
to this plan. Not so ready, however, were the colonists them- 
selves ; for two thirds of them were non-conformists, and 
such a majority could by no means see with complacency 
such an absolute disfranchisement of themselves. They ap- 
pealed to England, having small success with the proprie- 
taries, and received some redress. The acts were declared 
void by the crov/n and were repealed. The result of the 
proceedings, however, was that the Church of England be- 
came and remained the established Church in the province. 

Besides the religious troubles there were political disturb- 
ances. At one time there were in existence in North Caro- 
lina two distinct governments, one claiming power from the 
people, the other from the proprietaries. Civil war was im- 
minent, and the proprietary governor called for assistance 
from the royal governor of Virginia. No open outbreak took 
place, however, but it became evident that the proprietors 
and the people could not live together peaceably. The con- 
tinual conflict was not wholly ended when, in 1729, the pro- 
prietors sold their rights to the crown. 

In spite of these quarrels and factions the two colonies in- 
creased largely in prosperity. In South Carolina the suc- 
cessful cultivation of the rice plant brought wealth to the 
colony, as well as many Negro slaves, whose services were 
necessary and pleasing to the planters. In North Carolina 
this staple did not so largely flourish ; but here the forests of 
pine afforded occupation to many of the inhabitants. Masts 
and timber, tar and turpentine were profitable commodities. 
The hunters on the frontiers obtained large numbers of val- 
uable furs, for which they found a ready sale. A romantic 
aspect is cast over the history of the country by the constant 
appearance of pirates on the shores. They made their head- 
quarters on the coasts of North Carolina, where they not in- 
frequently were in partnership with the authorities. Of these 
marauders the most famous was the notorious Ned Teach, 
who was known by the title of Blackbeard. Benjamin 



122 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Franklin, in Boston, is the chief means of preserving for pos- 
terity the fame of this terrible freebooter. Among his earliest 
feats was the composition and printing of the Ballad of 
Blackbeard^ of which, unfortunately, little is known by an- 
tiquarians. The desperate character of the buccaneer is well 
expressed in the following lines, which are, perhaps, from 
Franklin's ballad. Teach gives his orders in case of capture 
by royal ships : 

" And when we no longer can strike a blow, 
Then fire the magazine, boys, and up we go. 
'Tis better to swim in the sea below 
Than to hang in the air and feed the crow, 
Said jolly Ned Teach, of Bristol." 

Teach's real name is said by some to have been John rather 
than Ned. His character seems to have been vicious and 
revolting. It is related that his favorite amusement was to 
personate " a fiend for the entertainment of his crew," and 
that he " once gave them a scenic display intended to repre- 
sent the regions of the damned." His ship was engaged by 
an English man-of-war in 1718, and he himself was killed in 
the action. 

The English settlements at this time extended along the 
American coast from Nova Scotia to the Savannah River. 
The English claimed farther — as far as the St. John's. 

Just south of this was the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, 
the oldest on the continent. But about the year 1732 it was 
resolved to settle the country between the Savannah and the 
St. John's rivers for reasons of various kinds. 

First of all it was thought well to have a species of military 
colony as a barrier between South Carolina and the Span- 
iards. This wish fell in well with a scheme formed by 
James Oglethorpe. This man, an English gentleman of po- 
sition, holding high rank in the army, and a member of Par- 
liament, was a philanthropist of the noblest nature. He had 
served on a commission for examining into the jails of En- 
gland, and had there seen such horrors that all his sympathies 
had been aroused, and principally for those who were con- 



GEORGIA. 123 

fined for debt. At this time in England, as well as elsewhere, 
the remedy for debt was imprisonment until payment could 
be made. The debtors' prisons were crowded with men who 
had committed no crime save that of being either unfortunate 
or unfit for the competitions of business. For these Ogle- 
thorpe conceived the idea of founding a colony in America, 
He heard, too, with indignation, of the sufferings of not a few 
Protestants in the Catholic countries of the continent of 
Europe, and to these also he offered the shelter of his 
colony. 

A charter was granted in 1732, a board of trustees was ap- 
pointed guardian, for twenty-one years, of the province, which 
was to be named Georgia, after George II., and they were to 
hold it " in trust for the poor." These trustees were given 
the power to appoint the Legislature and judiciary. The land 
was to be open to all save Romanists. 

In the month of November Oglethorpe set sail with the 
first band of emigrants for Charleston. Staying there but a 
short time he proceeded southAvard to the Savannah River, 
and here, about ten miles from the sea, he established a town 
on high ground and gave to it the same name as that of the 
stream. Affairs were successfully started. The streets were 
regularly laid out and small houses were built. The Indians 
appeared on the scene and welcomed Oglethorpe to such 
land as they did not themselves want. With them Oglethorpe 
signed a treaty, and he always treated them with great justice 
in his subsequent dealings with them. 

At first the colony seemed to prosper. The second year, 
1734, the settlers were reinforced by a colony of German 
Protestants, who having been driven out of the dominions of 
the Bishop of Salzburg, had been invited over to Georgia 
with liberal offers of land, subsistence for a year, and tolerance 
in matters of religion. They reached Charleston in May and 
went on to Savannah, where they encamped until they should 
find a residence ; but shortly they settled themselves at a 
place to which they gave the name Ebenezer. The same 
year the town of Augusta was settled. 



124 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the summer Oglethorpe sailed for England. In his ab- 
sence certain discontents arose which had been concealed 
before, and on his return the colonists presented demands 
for the abolition of those laws which they thought very preju- 
dicial to the advancement of the colony. In the first place, 
there was a law that there should be no rum imported, which 
cut off the trade with the West India Islands, of which rum 
was one of the chief productions. In the second place, there 
was a law against Negro slavery, for it was thought best that 
the settlers should move among a class of good white work- 
men. But the example of South Carolina was pernicious. In 
the third place, the land was granted in tail male only; where- 
by it could not easily be transferred, which caused a good 
deal of discontent. 

Oglethorpe on his return brought with him a good rein- 
forcement of settlers. More Moravians came over to join 
those who had previously arrived. A settlement of Scotch 
Highlanders was also made at the southern part of the colony, 
on the Altamaha River. With Oglethorpe came also John 
and Charles Wesley. 

Oglethorpe in a short time began a journey among the vari- 
ous towns of the province. Passing southward he built at 
Frederica a fort to protect a small settlement which he planted 
there. From this place, with certain of the Highlanders from 
Darien, the settlement just above, he made a journey farther 
south to mark out the English claims for a frontier. He 
planted two forts — one. Fort St. Andrews, on Cumberland 
Island, in the Altamaha; the other. Fort St. George, on Amelia 
Island, in the St. John's. But this last had to be abandoned. 
Returning home he made alliance with the Chickasaws, 
whereby the southern frontier was much strengthened. 

A year or two after war broke out between England and 
Spain. Georgia was the only one of the American colonies 
which was near enough the Spanish power to feel any effects 
from it. The Spaniards in Florida had already threatened 
Oglethorpe and his colony, though he had managed to avert 
any serious danger. But in 1739 war was declared. Rather 



SIEGE OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 125" 

than wait for an attack Oglethorpe resolved to take the offen- 
sive himself. He had, on his last return from England, 
brought with him a regiment of six hundred men, recruited 
especially for colonial service, and now, with additions from 
the Carolina militia and with various Indian allies, he started 
an expedition against St. Augustine. But the place was too 
strong and too well garrisoned for him to do any thing, and 
he was compelled to withdraw into Georgia, whither, a year 
or two after, the Spaniards followed him. In July, 1742, a 
fleet of thirty-six vessels, containing forces from Cuba, 
entered the St. Mary's to capture Frederica. The English 
had no great force and were compelled to abandon their 
camp and gather into the town. For three weeks there was 
fighting in which the Spaniards had decidedly the disad- 
vantage. Toward the end of the month they withdrew. 

The next year Oglethorpe returned to England, where he 
remained, never coming back to Georgia. Affairs did not 
go so well after he had gone, and in his absence the laws on 
which he had laid especial stress were suffered to fall into 
disuse. Slaves were imported, and rum also, and the male 
entail was gradually dropped. The government after his de- 
parture went on for eight years under a president and four 
assistants appointed by the trustees. But affairs did not run 
very smoothly, and in 1752 the trustees gave up their charter 
to the government and Georgia became a royal province. 



126 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The French and Indian "War. 

The Four Divisions — Expeditions Against the French — Affairs in the 
West — George Washington — Border Fighting — Braddoclc's Defeat — 
William Johnson — Defeat of the French at Champlain — An Expedi- 
tion Planned Against Fort Niagara — The Succession of English 
Commanders — Capture of Oswego — Siege and Surrender of Fort 
William Henry — William Pitt — Admiral Boscowen Arrives vv^ith 
Re-enforcements — Capture of Louisburg — Fort Frontenac and Fort 
Duquesne — Death of Lord Howe — Repulse of the English at Ticon- 
deroga — English Plans — The Fall of Quebec — Surrender of Montreal 
End of the War. 

THE " Seven Years' War" is, as has been said, generally- 
called the " French and Indian War " by the early 
American writers. In tracing its history it is well to remem- 
ber the four lines on which attack and defense were made. 
The French and English in America were separated by a 
wild barrier of forests and mountains. It was only where 
this natural barrier was penetrated by some natural highway 
that attack could be readily made by either party. Accord- 
ingly we find the scenes of the warfare to be distributed in 
four divisions. In the first place, at the junction of the Alle- 
ghany and Monongahela rivers, was Fort Duquesne, the key 
to the valley of the Ohio. The headwaters and tributaries of 
the Potomac and the Susquehanna afforded to the English a 
means of passage across the Alleghany Mountains, and thus 
Fort Duquesne was an object of importance. Again, another 
natural roadway through the mountains was afforded by the 
Hudson River, dividing at Albany into two distinct paths; the 
one along the Mohawk River, pointing west toward Oswego 
and Niagara, the other by the waters of Lake Champlain, ex- 
tending north to the heart of Canada, guarded only by the 



FRENCH ENCROACHMENTS. 12/ 

Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point. And, once more, Can- 
ada was approachable by sea, and the River St. Lawrence 
afforded access to the citadel .of Quebec. On these four 
lines, then, was the battle to be fought. Twice were expedi- 
tions sent by the English against Fort Duquesne. Forts 
Niagara and Frontenac were always objects of attack. Lake 
George was the scene of constant struggle, and Louisburg and 
Quebec eventually succumbed to expeditions sent by sea. 
Generally the English took the offensive. For this part they 
had some advantages. They occupied the inside frontiers 
with ready inter-communication by sea. The distance be- 
tween Boston and Yorktown was nothing compared with the 
distance between Quebec and Fort Duquesne. But the 
French position, though the outside, was very strong. When 
the English reached Fort Duquesne or Fort Frontenac they 
found nothing but a fort to take ; but from these points the 
French had been able to strike easily the frontier settlements 
of Pennsylvania and New York. An expedition through the 
woods of northern New England against Quebec and Mont- 
real would have been nonsensical ; yet from Quebec and 
Montreal, time and again, war parties would start to ravage 
the frontier towns of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 

It was in the West that the settlers first came into conflict. 
The valley of the Ohio had proved good trading ground, and 
by 1754 the English had become well accustomed to the 
road thither. Pickanillany, an Indian village on the Miami 
under the rule of the chief Old Britain (or as the French 
called him, La Demoiselle), was wholly under their influence. 
But France had accustomed herself to look on the broad 
region between Quebec and New Orleans, west of the mount- 
ains, as her own property. True, she did nothing with it save 
erect here and there a fort, and affix here and there the arms 
of Louis XV., but the English encroachments on it were 
none the less to be withstood. So it was at this point that 
the first fighting took place. There was no declaration of 
war, but each side was in earnest. The English built a fort 
where Pittsburg now stands. The French captured it, de- 



128 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

molished it, and built a neworte which they named after their 
governor, the Marquis Duquesne. This was as much as a 
declaration of war. At Wills Creek at this time were certain 
Virginia troops under one George Washington. Washington 
crossed the mountains, hoping to be able to collect enough 
settlers and Indians to attack the fort. At some little distance 
from Fort Duquesne the party fell in with a detachment of 
French under Coulon de Jumonville. A skirmisli took place 
in which Jumonville was killed and both parties retired. 
Expecting to be attacked, A¥ashington intrenched himself at 
" Fort Necessity." And here the French came against him 
with greatly superior force. After some sharp fighting Wash- 
ington was obliged to capitulate, and with his Virginians was 
allowed to march out with the honors of war and retired east 
of the Alleghanies. The first point had been gained by the 
French. English influence west of the Alleghanies was over- 
thrown. 

The English Avere roused to action. In the winter of 1754- 
55 a fierce border war raged along the western settlements of 
Pennsylvania and Virginia. In the spring new preparations 
were made for the capture of Fort Duquesne. Forces had 
been sent out from England, and with them a general. Ed- 
ward Braddock was a brave officer of some experience in war, 
but knowing little of the manner to be pursued in border 
fighting. The unhappy result of the expedition which he 
commanded is well known. Gathering at Wills Creek a 
considerable force of English regulars, Virginia troops, with 
a quantity of horses and wagons, Braddock began his ad- 
vance with difficulty through the forest. There were con- 
tinual delays and difficulties. Finally Braddock left his 
impedimenta in the rear and pressed on with a light col- 
umn. 

The expedition was sufficient in number to overawe the 
French. In the fort the ruling opinion was that it would be 
necessary to retire. But finally Contrecoeur, the commander, 
at the instance of Captain Beaujeu, resolved to lay an am- 
buscade for the English as they forded the Monongahela. 



BRADDOCK S DEFEAT. 1 29 

Beaujeu was in command. Although the English had 
reached the ford before the French the ambuscade was still 
made. The success was complete. The English regulars, 
marching in ranks as if on parade, presented a fair mark for 
the bullets of the French and Indians who lay concealed be- 
hind the trees in front and on each side of them. The ad- 
vance guard' was almost destroyed, and when the main body 
came up nothing could be done to save the day. The regu- 
Jars could not fight as the occasion demanded. Some little 
fighting was done by the provincials in border fashion, but 
finally the British turned and fled. Braddock was severely 
wounded, as were most of his officers. On meeting General 
Dunbar, who had been left behind with the baggage, no stop 
was made, but the retreat continued. Braddock himself died 
on the way and was buried in the woods, while the army 
marched over his grave, that it might not be found by the 
savages. The expedition was a total and miserable failure. 
The French still held the West, and with their savage allies 
they still made barbarous inroads on the border settle- 
ments. 

The same year another expedition was planned. Lake 
George (called by the French Lake St. Sacrament), and Lake 
Champlain, with the River Richelieu, made a tempting path- 
way to Quebec. The French, however, commanded it. For 
some years Crown Point (as the English called Fort Fred- 
erick) had been a standing menace to the northern colonies. 
An expedition was planned by the energetic Shirley. A force 
of three thousand provincial troops was raised and the com- 
mand given to William Johnson, afterward knighted for his 
services. This man was chosen chiefly for his influence over 
the Indians, which was great. He lived in a fortified house 
in the Mohawk country with a Dutch wife, and was known as 
an English chief throughout the Five Nations. But he was 
nothing of a soldier. The provincial force gathered at Al- 
bany and prepared to march northward. 

The French, on their side, had no notion of waiting to be 

attacked. Baron Dieskau, a German officer of repute, had 
6* 



130 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

command of the forces at Crown Point — some thirty-five hun- 
dred all told ; French, Canadians, and Indians. These last 
gave him some trouble. He led out his forces, however, and 
marched down the eastern side of the lake to surprise the 
English, who were marching slowly northward from Albany. 
Both sides sent out scouting parties, who were constantly 
skirmishing. Finally, on reaching the southern end of the 
lake, tlie French obtained information of their whereabouts 
and prepared an ambush. Johnson had with him at this time 
about tv/enty-five hundred, of whom three hundred were 
Mohawk Indians, who did but little fighting. The English 
advance party of about a thousand men fell into the ambush, 
and for a moment it seemed as though they must be utterly 
routed. But they recovered and fell back in fair order on 
the camp where the rest of the English lay intrenched be- 
hind a rough fortification of logs. The French followed 
closely and the battle became general. The English re- 
ceived their first assault behind their intrenchments. Then 
a charge was ordered and the French and Indians broke and 
fied. Dieskau was wounded and captured. 

This was a success as far as it went, but Johnson did not 
follow up his advantage. He encamped at the battlefield, 
where he occupied himself in strengthening the fort which he 
named William Henry. Here he stayed until November 27, 
when the greater part of his army dispersed to their homes. 
Little was gained except whatever prestige came from a bar- 
ren victory. 

This same summer an expedition was planned against Fort 
Niagara. Shirley, with a considerable force, reached the En- 
glish fort at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, which was to serve as 
base of operations. But Fort Frontenac, on the other side of 
the lake, was a formidable post to leave in the rear, and 
though Shirley had some thoughts of attempting its capture 
nothing was done. He returned to Albany in the fall, leaving 
seven hundred men at Oswego. The first year of the war 
had not resulted very successfully for the English. 

The next year war was formally declared, and the Marquis 



THE CAMPAIGN OF 1 756. 13I 

de Montcalm was sent out to command the French. He in- 
spired confidence in the whole colony. Under his direction 
the unfinished fort at Ticonderoga was completed, and for 
some time stood as the French outpost on this line of attack. 
Generals were also sent from England. Shirley, who was 
hard at work planning an expedition against Frontenac and 
Niagara, was ordered to resign his command to Colonel Webb, 
whQ was to come from England. Webb in turn was to turn 
the command over to General Abercrombie, who was to fol- 
low him. Abercrombie was to give up the command to the 
Earl of Loudon, the real commander-in-chief. The reasons 
for this singular arrangement do not at present appear. 
Meanwhile, none of his successors having appeared, Shirley 
carried on the preparations for the campaign in accordance 
with his own ideas. He busied himself principally in looking 
after Oswego, the proposed base for operations on Lake On- 
tario. In the meanwhile an expedition under the command 
of John Winslow was set on foot for the attack of Crown 
Point, and an army of five thousand New England soldiers 
collected at Albany for that purpose. 

There was much done early in the season with a view to- 
ward strengthening the post at Oswego, and a considerable 
skirmish took place in May, in which the English got some- 
thing the better. Loudon, however, on his arrival, determined 
to give up that part of the plan and to confine his operations 
to the attack on Crown Point. He proposed, however, to 
send re-enforcements to Oswego. But Montcalm was before- 
hand with him. Sailing from Fort Frontenac in August with 
three thousand men and several cannons he appeared before 
Oswego, which proved to be utterly incapable of defense, and 
surrendered in two or three days' time. The blow to the En- 
glish was severe. It injured their prestige with the Indians, 
it secured the French communications with Niagara, Detroit 
and Fort Duquesne, and it left Montcalm free to concentrate 
his forces at Ticonderoga. 

In this direction the English, although great preparations 
had been made, did nothing. A vigorous war of skirmishes 



132 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

was carried on by Indians and rangers on either side of Lake 
George, but no effective blow was struck. The next year, 
however, the crushing blow came. Loudon planned an at- 
tack on Louisburg which, owing to stormy weather as well as 
other things, came to nothing. Montcalm turned his whole 
attention toward Lake Champlain. Fort William Henry was 
garrisoned by a comparatively small force. Webb lay at Fort 
Edward with such troops as had been left by Loudon. In 
July he collected all the force that was available at Ticon- 
deroga for a descent on Fort William Henry. A large num- 
ber of Indians were present, as well Christian Indians from 
the missions as tribes from the far West. There were also 
Canadians, colonial regulars, and French troops. The expe- 
dition left Ticonderoga in August and shortly appeared be- 
fore Fort William Henry, where Munro was in command with 
two thousand men. The French numbered seventy-five hun- 
dred. Not far distant, at Fort Edward, General Webb had a 
small force, but he did not think it best to weaken his army 
by re-enforcing Munro, for their combined forces could not 
have equaled the French. 

The French proceeded to open trenches for a formal siege. 
They had with them cannon and mortars which soon made a 
breach in the fort. Munro replied gallantly with his cannon, 
but learning from Webb that he could expect no re-enforce- 
ment from him he finally decided to accept Montcalm's 
offers for a capitulation. The garrison were to be allowed 
to march out to Fort Edward on promise not to subsequently 
serve against the French. On the way, however, the savage 
allies of Montcalm broke all bounds and precipitated them- 
selves on the English, massacring a large number. The sur- 
vivors finally reached Webb at Fort Edward. Fort William 
Henry was dismantled and burned, and the French and In- 
dians retired to Canada. 

So far the tide of the war had been decidedly in favor of 
the French. The English attempts on Forts Duquesne and 
Niagara had been failures. They had accomplished literally 
nothing. True, the French had been defeated in the first year 



LOUISBURG TAKEN. I33 

of the war at Fort William Henry, but their subsequent ex- 
peditions had been more successful and the demolition of 
Oswego and Fort William Henry had been two severe blows. 

The next year, 1758, the tide changed a little. In England 
William Pitt had been called to the direction of the war, and 
under his energetic combinations the campaign was planned 
with great zeal. Canada was to be attacked by all approaches, 
an English army and fleet were to besiege the citadel of Louis- 
burg, a joint expedition was to attack Ticonderoga, and a 
third army was to strive to avenge the defeat of Braddock at 
Fort Duquesne. Some measure of success remained to the 
English at the end of the campaign. 

On the 2d of June, Admiral Boscawen, with an English 
fleet, appeared off the coast of Cape Breton. He was in com- 
mand of twenry-three ships-of-the-line, eighteen frigates, and 
five other ships. Under his convoy was a fleet of transports, 
which carried General Amherst and his army of eleven thou- 
sand English regulars, with five hundred provincials. It was 
an overpowering force. Drucour, the French commander, 
had with him in the town but five thousand French and 
Canadian regulars, with such assistance as he could get from 
the inhabitants and from a number of Indians — a branch of 
the French army never famous for siege operations. 

The siege was bitterly contested and lasted longer than 
might have been expected. The English forced a landing at 
the west of the town, although the weather was so rough that 
it took several days for them to get all their heavy guns 
ashore. The town was then invested in regular form. The 
heavy siege guns soon rendered the fortress indefensible, and 
on the 26th of July the town surrendered. It was the first 
great English success of the war, and all England and all 
the English colonies rejoiced. Yet the expedition had not 
wholly succeeded. The brave resistance of the French had 
delayed the surrender so that there was no time for Boscawen 
and Amherst to move on Quebec, toward which James Wolfe, 
the brigadier-general under Amherst, cast longing eyes. 

This success on the right was balanced later in the season 



134 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

by others almost as important on the left. Later in the sea- 
son, in the middle of August, Bradstreet, with a force of pro- 
vincials, made his way to the deserted post of Oswego. Here 
his men, joined by a few Indians, embarked in boats which 
they had brought with them, and started across the lake for 
Fort Frontenac. The French were not expecting an attack, 
and there were hardly two hundred men in the fort. Brad- 
street had with him more than ten times the number. He 
effected a landing and the French surrendered. The fort was 
dismantled, and the expedition returned to Albany. Later in 
the season Fort Duquesne succumbed. General Forbes had 
been sent against it with a force composed of provincials 
from the southern colonies, some regulars, among them some 
Scotch Highlanders, and a regiment of Royal Americans, 
so called — king's troops recruited in the colonies. Forbes, 
warned by the example of Braddock, made his way slowly 
and with great caution through the forests of western Penn- 
sylvania. It was not till the end of November that he reached 
the fort, and then the French had gone. Too few to resist suc- 
cessfully, and compelled by lack of provisions, they had been 
forced to retire after having burned and blown up the works. 
A temporary defense was built and garrisoned by the English, 
the name was changed to Pittsburg, and the English retired. 

By these successes the English had made material advance. 
The French, left and right, had been driven in. But the blow 
aimed at the center had failed. Montcalm still held Ticon- 
deroga. The plans made by Pitt for the campaign had for 
their chief part an expedition against Canada on this line. It 
should have been successful. The forces gathered at Fort 
William Henry were very large. There were six thousand 
regulars. Pitt had this year called on the colonies for twenty 
thousand men. Of these nearly ten thousand were to be 
employed on the expedition against Ticonderoga. A large 
number of boats had been prepared to carry them up Lake 
George. On the 5th of July the army embarked, and the 
great flotilla of over a thousand boats began its journey down 
the lake. The expedition was well provided with artillery, 



ATTACK ON QUEBEC. 1 35 

and every thing seemed to augur well for the reduction of the 
French stronghold. Abercrombie was in command, but the 
life of the army was General Lord Howe. They landed at 
the northern end of the lake on the 6th and took up their 
march across country toward the southern end of Lake 
Champlain, Here a crushing disaster befell them. Lord 
Howe, marching with Major Israel Putnam at the head of the 
army, was shot and killed in a skirmish with an outlying party 
of the French. The whole army felt the blow. 

Abercrombie pressed his men on, intent on forcing the 
French position by storm. It seems to have been the one way 
in which success was doubtful. Montcalm had intrenched 
himself strongly just outside of the fort and withstood the 
English attack for seven hours. The battle was desperate and 
bloody. At the end the English, having made nothing and 
having lost one fourth of their number, were ordered to 
retire, though still strong enough to have captured the fort 
by siege. The expedition returned to Fort William Henry 
and the campaign was given up as a failure. 

But this was the last French success in the war. Their 
efforts seemed to grow more feeble as the English increased 
in vigor. Provisions and men were scarce. Jealousy and 
intrigue disordered their counsels. They were not supported 
from home. One more campaign finished the war. 

The English took the offensive on every point. A large 
army and fleet were sent against Quebec, rendered more easy 
of access by the fall of Louisburg. Amherst was to attack 
Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Oswego was to be rebuilt 
and Fort Niagara was to be reduced. And Fort Duquesne, 
or Pittsburg, was to be strengthened and garrisoned. All 
these plans were carried out with great vigor. 

The upper town of Quebec is a place of great natural 
strength. It stands high above the river, on a steep cliff, 
easily made inaccessible, protected on the south, east and 
north by the St. Lawrence and the St. Charles rivers. To 
the west of the city is the plateau on which are the Plains of 
Abraham. To the north is the river St. Charles, beyond 



136 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

which was the entrenched camp of the French army under 
Montcahn, stretching down the river for two miles, as far 
as the Falls of Montmorenci. In the river opposite the 
French camp is the Island of Orleans. Here the English 
landed on the 26th of June an army of some nine thousand 
men, under command of Wolfe — who was to become famous 
here — assisted by a large fleet. 

The undertaking was difficult, and the summer wore away 
while the British lay on the Island of Orleans, no further 
advanced than the day they landed. A vigorous attack made 
on the French camp near the Falls of Montmorenci was a 
failure. The lower town was reduced to ruins by the En- 
glish guns, but no impression was made on the citadel. In 
September Wolfe resolved that a great risk must be run, and 
determined to attack the town from the west. About five 
thousand of his troops were secretly conveyed above the city. 
Then, early in the morning of the 13th, the expedition floated 
down the river in boats, till they reached the point agreed 
upon, above the city. Twenty-four volunteers scaled the cliffs 
by a steep and narrow path, and the rest of the army fol- 
lowed. By daylight the English, thirty-five hundred strong, 
stood on the Plains of Abraham — a mile distant from Quebec. 
Montcalm had been taken by surprise. He mustered his 
forces as soon as possible and appeared before the city to 
give battle. The fortune of war was with the English. The 
French were broken and fled. The two leaders, Wolfe and 
Montcalm, were both killed in the battle. But the English 
remained masters of the field. They entrenched themselves, 
and the city surrendered the next day. 

The fall of Quebec was the fall of Canada. The other 
expeditions set on foot had succeeded. General Prideaux 
had reached Oswego, and, leaving half his force to hold that 
place, had proceeded and laid siege to Niagara with the rest. 
The French were defeated in sundry skirmishes and the 
place fell. Meanwhile Amherst had gathered his forces at 
Fort William Henry and sailed down Lake George to Ticon- 
deroga, which was abandoned by the French at his approach. 



END OF THE WAR. 



137 



Crown Point was also evacuated, and the English were mas- 
ters of this road to Canada, It had been Amherst's intention 
to advance on Montreal 



FRENCH &. INDIAN 
WAR 




and Quebec, but the sea- 
son was too far advanced 
for him to do so. The 
campaign closed with 
Canada virtually in the 
hands of the English. 
The next year the French 
attempted to recapture 
Quebec, but the place 
was successfully held 
against them. That same 
year three simultaneous 
attacks were directed 
against Montreal : Mur- 
ray was to advance from 
Quebec andHavilandby 
way of Lake Champlain, 
while Amherst sailed 
down the St. Lawrence 
from Lake Ontario. A 
junction was effected ; 
Montreal was invested 
by seventeen thousand 
men, and the town ca- 
pitulated. By the terms of the surrender all Canada passed 
over to the English. All French troops were to be sent to 
France, with any others who might desire to go with them. 

Thus was the war in America ended. The Peace of Paris, 
signed three years later, confirmed the conditions, and the 
English colonies were at last rid of their dangerous rivals on 
the north and west. Not a few keen-sighted men, in different 
parts of the world, saw in this freedom from alarm and men- 
ace, in this possibility of endless increase, the sure signs of 
American independence. 



138 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Colonial Irritation. 

The Prospect of Peace — George III. — System for Taxing America — The 
Stamp Act — The'Navigation Act — Protest Against the Act — Passage of 
the Stamp Act — Continental Congress — Attack on the House of Gov- 
ernor Hutchinson — Sons of Liberty — Rockingham Ministry in Power — 
Speech of WilHam Pitt — Repeal of the Stamp Act — Statues of Pitt 
and George III. — The Mutiny Act — The Tea Act — Irritation of the 
Colonists — A Garrison in Boston. 

AR was. over, aiid it seemed as if danger from foreign 
enemies was over. Especially in the northern and 
middle colonies was the danger of incursions from the savages 
on their northern and western frontiers at an end. 

For more than a generation the English colonists had been 
more than a match for any force which the Indians could 
bring against them without the help of white men, but while 
there were magazines of French arms and ammunition to 
rely upon the frontiers were never safe. Political jealousy and 
priestly bigotry were enough to excite the Indians who lived 
between the French and the English, and the familiar phrase 
which has come into that history, which speaks of the incur- 
sions or conflicts as belonging " to French-and-Indian-wars," 
shows how natural and complete was the alliance between the 
two. This alliance was now dissolved, and apparently dis- 
solved forever. The colonists were to deal with the Indians 
alone, and they knew that, so dealing, they were quite sure of 
peace. There is a curious letter from Washington, written 
to an English correspondent in 1763, in which he saj's that 
the quiet of all life in the colonies is such that he really 
has nothing to say which will interest a friend on the other 
side of the water. 



REVENUE FROM STAMPS. 1 39 

The folly of George III., a young prince who had come 
to the throne but a few years before, broke up all this 
seeming tranquillity. His grandfather, George II., was a 
soldier. He was not much more than a soldier, but he 
was a man who did dare to go into battle and who under- 
stood more or less of the strategy which belonged to the 
military art of his time. George III.'s father had died while 
George II. lived. When, in 1760, the grandson inherited 
the throne of England, it was with a young man's enthusi- 
asm, hopes and ambitions. 

Benjamin West, who spent the greater part of his life in 
London, is the authority for an anecdote which is probably 
true. He says that the young king was anxious to rival in 
London the visible grandeurs of the Court of France. He 
had formed the idea that he should like to build a palace 
which might bear some comparison with the glories of Ver- 
sailles. To do this, as he and his favorites knew, required a 
larger revenue than English parliaments were used to vote 
to English sovereigns. New revenue must be sought for 
somewhere. With the audacity of youth and inexperience 
they conceived the idea of drawing revenue from these col- 
onies which extended so largely upon the map, and for whom 
an army directed by Chatham had done such great things. 
Here was, according to Mr. West, the origin of the system 
for taxing America. 

In the ministry of Grenville and North, in 1763, a bill was 
introduced in Parliament which would test the whole ques- 
tion of a possible revenue to be derived from the English 
colonies. It required that for all commercial transactions 
and all instruments of record stamps must be used as they 
were used in England. The earliest reference, in the English 
archives, to this project, is at the date of July 5, 1763. The 
next spring, on the loth of March, Grenville was prime min- 
ister. As an amendment to the Sugar Act he introduced a 
resolution in these fatal words : " It may be proper to charge 
stamp duties on the colonies and plantations." This resolu- 
tion challenged little attention in Parliament. But it was 



I40 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

now a general custom for each colonial assembly to maintain 
an agent in London who should attend to its affairs. Frank- 
lin was such an agent for Pennsylvania. These agents, of 
course, notified their principals of the proposition, and then 
waited on Grenville promptly, to tell him that any scheme 
for internal taxation would be intolerable to America. Gren- 
ville answered that he had given the colonies, by his resolu- 
tion, a year to indicate any other mode of contributing to 
this charge which might be agreeable to them. 

The Sugar Act, to which this resolution regarding stamps 
was added, was a renewal of an act which had been passed 
thirty years before. The general theory of English commerce 
was the old fatal and absurd theory, that all commerce must 
be conducted for the benefit of the mother country. What 
is known as the " Navigation Act " was the basis of English 
legislation. On the theory of the Navigation Act, if Massa- 
chusetts wished to send fish to the West India islands the 
fish must be shipped to London, and from England re-shipped 
to the islands. But from the very beginning the colonies had 
disregarded the act. Cromwell had assented to its violation, 
and subsequent statutes had confirmed the exception thus 
made. Under the act of 1734, which expired in 1764, a duty 
was imposed on foreign molasses. Under the new act which 
Grenville now introduced, this duty was reduced from six 
pence a gallon to three pence, and new duties were imposed 
on coffee, pimento, East Lidia goods and wines, when admit- 
ted into the colonies. While the colonies had never dissented 
from the imposition of duties on navigation which were in- 
tended to protect the English islands, by the disadvantageous 
pressure upon the products of the Spanish islands, they saw 
at once that the new duty was proposed for the raising of 
revenue. The resolution with regard to stamps, which was 
added to an act in itself so unpopular, showed that this was 
the purpose of the government. 

While these two details were considered in England as 
absolutely unimportant they set the whole of America in a 
blaze. " If our trade may be taxed, why not our lands ? " said 



STAMP ACT PASSED. I4I 

Sam. Adams. "Why not the produce of our lands? and, in 
short, every thing we possess or make use of?" The reader 
will remember that it was only a hundred and twenty years 
since John Hampden had gone to battle and to death to 
maintain the principle that the subject could not be taxed by 
the king unless he had an opportunity to vote on the law 
which taxed him. Precisely the same question was now 
brought before the colonies. 

It was by no means a new question in the colonies ; and 
with a curious jealousy the legislative assemblies had always 
refused the slightest proposal of their governors to raise a 
revenue which they themselves had not voted. In 1762 the 
House of Representatives in Massachusetts had said: "It 
would be of little consequence to the people whether they 
were subject to George or to Louis, the king of Great Britain 
or the French king, if both were as arbitrary as both would 
be if both could levy taxes Avithout Parliament." Every 
colony which had an opportunity protested against the act 
and its principle. The agents were instructed to ask for a 
hearing before the House of Commons, and in one or an- 
other form the different assemblies sent their protests to 
London. ■ 

Grenville was, therefore, fairly warned. He had given his 
year's notice to the colonies, and this was the result. But he 
introduced the Stamp Act, and it was passed by a full house 
on March 22, 1765. The cheapest stamp was to be one shil- 
ling. For more important documents the prices ranged 
upward. This act was to be enforced after the first Tuesday 
in October. 

The summer of 1765 was, therefore, a summer of tremen- 
dous excitement through all the colonies. At the suggestion 
of Massachusetts, nine assemblies appointed their delegates 
to meet in a Continental Congress at New York, to consider 
the exigency. Meanwhile the piles of stamped paper which 
were to produce this new revenue arrived in the different sea- 
ports. Mobs of people in those towns waited on the collect- 
ors who were appointed to sell the stamps and compelled 



142 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

them to decline. The Congress met in the old City Hall in 
Wall Street, in New York. It consisted of twenty-eight del- 
egates. They agreed together on thirteen resolutions, express- 
ing, in strong language, the conviction "that no taxes ever 
have been or can be constitutionally imposed on the people 
of these colonies but by their respective legislatures." And, 
again, that " all supplies to the crown being free gifts of the 
people, it is unreasonable and inconsistent with the spirit of 
the British Constitution for the people of Great Britain to 
grant to his majesty the property of the colonists." These 
resolutions were forwarded to England. Similar resolutions 
were passed in many of the colonial assemblies. 

It proved, at once, that it would be impossible to enforce 
the use of stamped paper. In most of the towns where it 
was to be sold the agents were compelled to resign. In Bos- 
ton the mob entered the house of Oliver, the agent, and 
broke his windows. This outrage was not checked. The 
mob gathered courage and attacked the house of his brother- 
in-law. Governor Hutchinson, entered it, and threw every 
thing into the street. In this wild riot some important doc- 
uments bearing on American history were lost. Hutchinson 
was singularly hated by the people, because he was of New 
England blood and they thought they had a right to com- 
mand his sympathy. It would be fair to say that unless men 
held office under the crown they were unanimous in their 
opposition to the statute. In New York an association called 
the "Sons of Liberty " was formed, which led the opposition. 
Similar associations were formed in other provinces. When 
a vessel arrived with stamps for use in Connecticut she was 
boarded, the stamps were seized and were set on fire. In 
Philadelphia the stamp distributor resigned so soon as he 
found that the Sons of Liberty proposed to visit him. In 
Maryland, Hood, who was to distribute them, was burned in 
effigy, and fled to New York. The Sons of Liberty waited on 
him and compelled him to resign his office and swear that 
he would not resume it. In short, in every province the use 
of stamps proved impossible, and it seems to be sure that no 



THE ROCKINGHAM MINISTRY. I43 

stamp was ever used upon any instrument in America. The 
parcels were, in many instances, shipped back to England, 
and it is within the memory of this generation that in some 
clearing of the house in one of the English departments 
these packages Avere found and the stamps given away as 
curiosities to persons interested in history. 

Meanwhile in England a change had been made in the 
cabinet. What was known as the Rockingham ministry came 
into power — a cabinet which was independent of the Earl of 
Bute, a Scotch lord, who had been supposed to have an undue 
influence over the young king. When Parliament came to- 
gether in December the Rockingham ministry did not know 
its own mind as to the American disturbances. On this 
occasion William Pitt appeared for the first time in a year. 
He made a speech in the formal debate on the address to the 
crown. " In my opinion," he said, " this kingdom has no 
right to lay a tax upon the colonies. The Americans are the 
sons, not the bastards of England." In this speech he made 
a prophecy which became celebrated, that the rotten part of 
the constitution, by which he meant the system of rotten 
boroughs, would not last for a century. In fact, it was de- 
stroyed by the "Reform Bill " in 1831. At the end of such 
an attack there was silence. General Conway, who had voted 
against the Stamp Act and now led the ministry, then rose. 
He said that he agreed with almost every word that Pitt had 
said. Grenville defended the stamp system. He said that 
the American hatred to it was to be found in the factions of 
the Plouse. Pitt replied. In his reply he used words which 
school-boys still repeat at school exhibitions : " I rejoice that 
America has resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to 
all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, 
would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the 
rest." 

The House went into what was called a careful inquiry on 
the subject. Franklin was examined at its bar. It was agreed 
on all hands that the Stamp Act should be repealed. It was 
supposed that this would satisfy the Americans. The repeal 



144 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

was passed by the strong vote of 275 to 167. And, indeed, 
the news of the repeal was received with enthusiasm through 
the colonies. It was thought that a new change had come in. 
The town of Boston ordered full-length portraits of Conway 
and of Barre to be hung up in Faneuil Hall, which was its 
place of meeting. The Assembly of Virginia voted a statue 
of George III., and Maryland proposed one of Pitt. The 
State of New York ordered statues to both Pitt and the king, 
and these statues were set up in August, 1770. 

But all this enthusiasm was really misplaced ; for by the 
side of the repeal of the Stamp Act a declaratory act was 
passed, declaring that Parliament had power over the colonies 
in all cases whatsoever. The Sugar Act had not been modified, 
with its provision creating a revenue and for revenue pur- 
poses. The Mutiny Act directed that the colonial assemblies 
should provide quarters, with " fire, candles, vinegar, salt, 
bedding, utensils for cooking, beer or cider, and rum," for the 
troops who might be sent to America. Meanwhile the Rock- 
ingham ministry had dissolved. In the changes made, which 
cannot be called partisan so much as personal, the opponents 
to the colonies gained new force. Charles Townshend came 
into power, and he had a theory of colonial taxation which he 
supposed he could carry through. He died in the year 1767, 
but he lived long enough to introduce the celebrated Tea Act, 
on which, as it happened, the discussions of after years turned. 

In the limited space of this history it is impossible to go 
into the details of the irritation which was kept up now, for 
a series of years, after the suspicion had once gained ground 
that Parliament meant to make money out of the colonies. It 
was now a question under the Mutiny Act, now a quarrel about 
the quartering of soldiers, now an obnoxious message from a 
home secretary to a governor, Avhich continued the exaspera- 
tion. The men who controlled England had no knowledge 
of the colonies. On the other hand, the people of New En- 
gland, for a century, had hardly known what a soldier was in 
time of peace. They were themselves accustomed to serve 
in their own train bands. They were disciplined to arms, 



GARRISONS. 145 

that they might serve as a militia. They had volunteered 
freely, even for distant enterprises, as the reader knows ; but 
when war ended, or when the days of "annual training " were 
over, the soldier was a soldier no longer. No one wore a 
uniform ; no one presumed on any rights which were not 
shared by all men. To a New Englander, then, to see a body 
of men arrive from another country, dressed in unifrom and 
carrying weapons when all was at peace, was a sight as ab- 
surd as if they had been clad in the armor of the Middle Ages 
and were riding up and down like Amadis in quest of adven- 
tures. To quarter a body of soldiers in a New England town, 
even though those soldiers were paid from a distant treasury, 
was a constant reminder of the force on which their distant 
king relied. It was a reminder which they did not like, and 
the mere presence of such a force was a constant exaspera- 
tion. 

Such is one instance of the offense which the government 
in London was constantly giving to the colonists in America. 
To send a regiment into garrison in a provincial town in En- 
gland was a favor to that town, and the regiment was received 
with a certain interest and enthusiasm. But to send a regi- 
ment as a garrison into the town of Boston was an insult 
which excited and exasperated every person in Boston every 
day that such occupation continued. 
7 



146 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Boston Massacre. 

Boston Massacre — Selectmen Wait on the Governor — A Demand that 
the Troops Be Withdrawn — Consent of Governor Hutchinson — Sam. 
Adams's Regiment — Trial of Preston — Protest of the Colonies Against 
Taxation — Lord North Prime Minister. 

IN Boston this irritation came to its height, after endless 
altercations between the people and the royal troops 
and seamen, on the 3d of March, 1770. A party of soldiers 
and a party of rope-makers of the town agreed to meet in a 
sort of duel, and fought v/ith clubs near midnight. Several 
men on each side were badly wounded. The next night an 
attempt was made to renew this fight, which was suppressed 
with some difficulty. The next night, the 5th of March, a 
day which became historical, two young men tried to pass a 
sentinel at the foot of Cornhill, near where the statue of 
Samuel Adams stands to-day. The sentinel tried to stop them 
and a struggle ensued. The encounter was itself trifling, but 
it called out the neighbors, and a file of troops in defense of 
the sentry. The English officers succeeded in drawing their 
men back into the barracks, but there was no one to withdraw 
the mob of people. They observed another sentinel, who was 
stationed in front of the Custom House. This building was 
in what is now called State Street, then King Street, on the 
northern side. A boy pointed at this sentry as being a man 
who had knocked him down lately, and the mob began to 
pelt him with snow-balls and other missiles. The soldier 
tried to enter the building for protection, but the door was 
locked ; and he was obliged to call for the main guard, whose 
station was within hearing. The officer in command sent six 
men to his relief. He also sent for Captain Preston^ the offi- 



BOSTON MASSACRE. I47 

cer of the day. Meanwhile rumors of a fight called together 
an immense crowd. The bells were ringing as if for fire. 
Preston joined the file of six men with six other men. They 
fell back in a curved line in front of the Custom House. 
Preston knew and the mob knew that by the law of England 
his men must not fire without the order of a civil magistrate. 
He behaved with moderation and judgment all through. 
The mob dared the soldiers to fire. *' Come on, lobster-backs." 
" Come on, bloody-backs." These were allusions to the hated 
red coat. "Fire if you dare." " Damn you, why don't you 
fire? " At last a soldier received a severe blow from a club. 
He leveled his piece and fired. Immediately after, seven or 
eight more of the soldiers fired. Three of the people were 
killed, two others were mortally wounded, and six slightly 
wounded. The rest of the mob fled and Preston was able to 
withdraw his men without injury. The incident seemed to be 
over, but in reality the Revolutionary War had begun. 

The drums beat to arms, and the Twenty-ninth regiment 
formed in King Street. On the other hand, Hutchinson ad- 
dressed the people from the balcony of the State House. He 
promised a full investigation in the morning. A citizens' 
guard of a hundred men took charge of the streets, and peace 
was restored. Early in the morning Preston gave himself up 
for trial. 

The Selectmen of Boston at once waited on the governor 
and council. They said that such a fight was the consequence 
which they had always anticipated from the presence of a body 
of soldiers in a peaceful town. They said that the troops must 
be withdrawn from Boston, or they would not be responsible 
for the consequences. Hutchinson said that the troops were 
under military orders, and that he could not remove them; that 
they were under the command of General Gage, at New York. 
But, with the fatal facility of a weak man, he said that Colonel 
Dalrymple would withdraw to the castle the Twenty-ninth 
regiment, which had had the fights with the people. The 
town meeting in Faneuil Hall pronounced this' answer unsat- 
isfactory. Sam. Adams, at the head of a committee of citizens, 



148 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

waited upon Hutchinson again. Hutchinson renewed the 
proposal that one regiment should be sent away. Adams an- 
swered at once that if there was power to remove one regi- 
ment there was power to remove two, and that nothing less 
would satisfy the people. Hutchinson gave way, and the 
regiments were removed to Castle William, in the harbor. 
By this act the outbreak of the Revolution was postponed for 
five years. 

The young king, George III., who was trying these little 
experiments at absolute government, heard with disgust of the 
failure of this effort to quarter soldiers in a free town. He 
always called these two regiments " Sam. Adams's regiments " 
afterward. It was perhaps at this moment that he first heard 
Adams's name, and it is probably from this moment that 
Samuel Adams, who is, in fact, the father of American inde- 
pendence, was always regarded with particular dislike by 
George III., who should be remembered as the author of the 
American Revolution. By this is meant that, had it not been 
for the preposterous wish of George III. to intermeddle with the 
constitutional order of things which he found, the separation of 
America from England, in itself unavoidable, would have hap- 
pened at a different time and under very different conditions. 

Preston was tried for murder. He was defended by Quincy 
and Adams, two patriot lawyers, and was acquitted. Two of 
the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter, the rest were 
acquitted. Under the inhuman law of that time these two 
poor fellows were branded in the hand. Hutchinson, the weak 
governor, who could have pardoned them, said this was of little 
consequence to the prisoners, =and h-ethought it most advi-sable 
not to interfere. 

The act drawn by Townshend's direction for tfce 'taxation 
of the colonies proposed importation duties on tea, glass, 
paper and colors. Against these the colonies had protested 
in every way. They had materially checked the trade with 
England by combinations of the patriots who refused to re- 
ceive foreign goods. iFrom the severity of these combinations 
they gave way gradualiy, :so that tliey would receive such other 



LORD NORTH. I49 

manufactures of England as they needed, but would not re- 
ceive the articles on which the taxes were to be paid. In 
1769 the Duke of Grafton urged in the cabinet a remission 
of all these duties. His colleagues, however, insisted on 
maintaining the duty on tea " for the sake of the principle," 
as was said. But the cabinet agreed that the circular on the 
subject should contain as encouraging expressions as were 
possible. The Duke of Grafton afterward complained that 
these encouraging expressions were never sent to the colonies; 
that the circular letter which was sent was calculated to do 
all the mischief possible. And he charges that these changes 
were made at the direct instance of the king. This is proba- 
bly true. In all the history of that time matters were com- 
plicated by the existence of a set of men who were called 
" the king's friends," who surrounded the person of George 
.III., and who took care that not even the cabinet, which was 
theoretically responsible, should have its own way fully, if 
that way crossed the royal will. Meanwhile, George III. had 
shown the first symptoms of the insanity under which he after- 
ward broke down. 

With the spring of 1770 the Grafton ministry broke up and 
Lord North became prime minister. This was on the 27th of 
January. The " king's friends " were to control England for 
the next twelve years, and the history of the next twelve 
years, with the loss of the American colonies, is the result of 
that control. The American reader studies with curious pains 
the details of the intrigues on which depended the fate of 
his own country. He finds, to his surprise, that hardly any 
man in England knew any thing about the colonies or cared 
much for them or for theirs. The government had no policy. 
It was committed to retaining the tea tax, partly to show that 
it had the right of taxation and partly because it would main- 
tain the favorable consideration of the great East India Com- 
pany. But matters of local policy, local intrigues, and per- 
sonal cabals, occupied the statesmen of England so much 
that they could scarcely devote an hour to the consideration 
of the condition of their colonies. 



I50 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XV. 

The Boston Tea Party. 

Massachusetts Assembly — Town Meetings — Destruction of Tea in Boston 
Harbor — Hearing Before the Privy Council — Recall of Hutchinson — 
Refusal of All the Sea-ports to Receive Tea — Boston Port Bill — Vir- 
ginia Assembly- Continental Congress — Re-inforcement of Governor 
Gage — Percy's Brigade — Provincial Assembly — English Troops March 
to Lexington — Go On to Concord — Retreat to Boston — English Loss — 
Continental Congress Meets for the Second Time — George Washing- 
ton Appointed Commander-in-Chief — Battle of Bunker Plill. 

READING as we read, with a knowledge of the event, we 
search through correspondence and memoirs for some 
hint of what was to follow. Such bodies as the Assembly of 
Massachusetts, led by eager patriots, had always some quar- 
rel with the crown governor. But on the whole the storm 
seemed to have lulled. It might have passed over for a 
time but for the alliance of the king's friends with the East 
India Company, 

This company was acquiring the importance under 
which, not long after, it attained its Eastern empire. It was 
burdened with seventeen million pounds of tea, partly 
because the Americans had refused to drink tea which paid 
the English duty. Lord North had to lend the company a 
million and a half of money to save it from bankruptcy. 
The teas in England had already paid six pence per pound 
of import duty. Lord North offered to the company to repay 
them these duties as a drawback on all teas exported to 
America. He thus gave to the Americans what they 
wanted — a suspension of the Navigation Act — so far as teas 
were concerned. And to this plan Parliament consented. The 
directors of the East India Company knew America better 



PRIVY COUNCIL. 151 

than Lord North did. They begged to be permitted to land 
the tea free in America, and offered to give up for this privi- 
lege the drawback which the government offered. But the 
king said, " There must be one tax to keep up the right." 
It was but three pence a pound. It was only one half of 
what the English subject paid. But the English subject who 
agreed to pay it had his vote in the House of Commons. 
The American subject had not. There was the difference. 
" The tax is but three pence," said James Otis in the speech 
assigned to him ; " but it was for half a penny that Hampden 
resisted." The company chartered its own ships and 
freighted them for America, consigning them to different 
sea-ports. 

While this was passing the public feeling in Massachusetts 
was made more bitter by the discovery of twelve letters 
written by Hutchinson and Oliver to the government through 
these years of controversy. It was proved from these letters 
that these two Americans had proposed the introduction of 
troops. Hutchinson had said in one that he doubted if it 
were possible that the people of a colony should enjoy all 
the liberty of the parent state. One of the letters proposed 
the establishment of a patrician order. Nothing could have 
more excited the colonies. It proved that they were 
wounded in the house of their friends. Echoes of this 
excitement even reached London. The Massachusetts 
Assembly prayed the king to remove Hutchinson and Oli- 
ver, who were governor and lieutenant-governor. His Coun- 
cil met in the fullest meeting remembered to hear the peti- 
tion. After it had been presented and supported by Mr. 
Dunning, Mr. Wedderburn spoke, as solicitor-general, in reply. 
Much of his speech was a coarse attack on Franklin, whom 
he charged with being a thief. The council pronounced 
the petition of the House of Representatives of Massachu- 
setts grajipdless and scandalous. But the younger Pitt in 
the House of Commons afterward expressed the opinion of 
history when he called it " a scene in the cock-pit." Wal- 
pole wrote this epigram on the interview: 



152 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

"Sarcastic Sawney, swollen with spite and prate, 
On silent Franklin poured his venal hate. 
The calm philosopher without reply 
Withdrew, and gave his country liberty." 

Franklin wore that day a suit of clothes of a stuff then 
called Manchester velvet. He laid by the clothes with the 
determination that he would never weaw them till Wedder- 
burn's insults were revenged. And it was ten years after- 
ward that he put them on, when, as Plenipotentiary of 
America, he signed, with the English Plenipotentiary, the 
treaty in which England acknowledged the independence of 
of his country. 

This incident was the more exciting because the news had 
only just arrived in London of the destruction of three car- 
goes of tea in the harbor of Boston. 

For all these years of controversy, the Massachusetts 
Assembly, when it met, and the Boston town meeting 
at any time of the year, were the chief visible or official 
opponents of the English government. The smaller towns 
did not hesitate in their meetings to assert the right of sov- 
ereignties which were well-nigh independent. And there is 
many a record of a vote in a New England town meeting 
directing the selectmen to buy powder, or to build a powder- 
house, when the vote meant war against the king and the 
men who voted knew that this was its meaning. 

In Boston the town meetings were led by Samuel Adams 
and men who agreed with him. They had instituted a sys- 
tem of correspondence which kept them in connection with 
a!l the towns in the colony, and eventually was extended to 
all the patriotic assemblies in the diff"erent colonies. The 
arrival of the hated tea in the harbor of Boston was an 
occasion quite important enough to demand the attention of 
a town meeting. Such a meeting was called, and the 
neighboring towns were invited to send representatives to it. 

The meeting was regarded, however, as a formal meeting 
of the " town of Boston." As such it acted, and it gave the 
instruction of the " town " to the consignees of the tea ships to 



TEA PARTY. 1 53 

send them back to England. The consignees replied that 
they could not pass the fort in the harbor without a permit 
from Governor Hutchinson. The ''town "bade them obtain 
such a permit at once, and they attempted to do so. 

But the governor had stolen to his country house, ten 
miles away. The consignees followed him there, and he 
refused the technical permit. He knew, of course, that the 
king's ministers would regard it as given in weak compli- 
ance to a mob, as they regarded the transfer of " Sam 
Adams's regiments," three years before. The consignees 
returned to Boston with news of his refusal. 

Meanwhile the town meeting had been in session all day. 
The sun had long set when the news from Milton came. 
Sam Adams arose and said " This meeting can do nothing 
more to save the country.'' It was voted that the meeting be 
dissolved. At that moment a war-whoop sounded outside of 
the meeting-house where the assembly was gathered. The 
crowd rushed out to see a body of men rudely disguised as 
Mohawk Indians, on their way to the ships. Another body 
from the south end of the town joined them. The arrange- 
ments had been carefully concerted, probably in the secrecy 
of Masonic Lodge rooms. In all, a body of forty or fifty 
young men met at the wharves where the tea vessels lay. 
The population of the town followed, from the meeting-house 
and elsewhere. The " Indians " set a guard to keep all others 
from the ships. They took possession of the vessels. With 
the skill of men used to the business they hoisted the tea chests 
from the holds. They spilt them open with axes and threw 
the tea into the water. Before midniglit all the tea was 
floating on the waves, and with the ebb tide was taken out 
to sea.* 

The work of destruction had been done under a clear 
moon, in sight of half the town. The governor was away. 
The military commander at Fort William did not, perhaps, 
know what was passing. If he did know he did not venture 

* Specimens of it, preserved carefully in bottles as it was gathered on beaches 
are siill shown. ." .."'.■■: 

7* 



154 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

to interfere. This was the answer of the town of Boston to 
the crown. 

Such was the news which had arrived in London two days 
only before the important meeting of the privy council to 
consider American affairs. It will be well understood that it 
had its share in calling out the scornful refusal of the privy 
council to listen to the petition of Massachusetts, and that it 
gave point and sarcasm to the invective of Wedderburn. 
The cause of Massachusetts had, indeed, been prejudged be- 
fore the hearing. 

It is to be said to Franklin's credit that he did not permit 
the insult heaped upon him to check him in the steadfast 
efforts which he made for reconciliation. In the House of 
Lords the Earl of Buckinghamshire said that Franklin was in 
London not as the agent of a province, but as an embassador 
from the States of America. "Such language is wild," said 
the Earl of Stair, in reply, and urged a more conciliatory tone. 
Franklin himself lost favor at home by urging that compensa- 
tion should be made for the tea; and in England, where he 
remained more than a year, he did his best to soften preju- 
dices and to explain the true necessities of the case. But 
even Franklin did not know how determined was the enemy 
of America. This enemy was the king himself. On the 4th 
of February the king sent for General Gage, who held the 
command of the English forces in America, but was at this 
time in London. He expressed his readiness to return at a 
day's notice. "They will be lions," he said, "while we are 
lambs; " and, again, he told the king that, if four regiments 
were sent to Boston, they would prevent any disturbance. 
The king believed him, and said he would enforce tlie claim 
of authority at all hazards. He said that the folly which 
gave way about the Stamp Act had increased the American 
pretensions. He found nothing objectionable in the letters 
of Hutchinson. He said the address of Massachusetts was 
the nut of falsehood and malevolence. On the 7th of Febru- 
ary he received the report of the privy council, and dismissed 
the petition as groundless, vexatious and scandalous. 



THE BOSTON PORT BILL. 1 55 

So soon as Lord North could prepare his measures for the 
punishment of Boston he did so. He introduced bills by 
which the port of Boston was to be closed against foreign 
commerce. The army was to be posted again in the town. 
Hutchinson, as a civilian, was called to London, and General 
Thomas Gage, the Governor of New York and commander of 
the military force in America, was made Governor of Massa- 
chusetts. He was at this time in London and was at once 
sent to Boston. All this meant that the government intended 
to repress, by force, the disobedience to the home legislation. 
It was, virtually, a declaration of war. 

Meanwhile all the seaboard colonies had thrown in their 
lot with Massachusetts. Each seaport had refused to receive 
the tea. It was sent home, or it was stored and kept under 
guard. But it may be doubted if a cup of tea was ever 
made from it in America ; and it seems certain that not a 
penny of revenue was ever collected from this fatal enter- 
prise in which the English government undertook the duties 
of exporting merchandise. 

So soon as the Boston Port Bill became known assurances 
of sympathy were sent to Boston from the other colonies. 
With them the colonists sent money and food for the 
support of the people thrown out of work by the closing of 
the port. The other New England harbor towns offered to 
receive Boston vessels without harbor charges. They scorned 
the temptation to build up a prosperity for themselves at the 
expense of their suffering friends. 

In the Virginia Assembly, George Washington, who had 
been a leading member for fifteen years, said he would gladly 
raise a regiment of a thousand men, and march with them to 
Boston, in any effort to break up the tyranny which had 
made of that town a garrison. The ist of June, when the 
Port Bill took effect, was celebrated as a day of fasting 
throughout the colonies. In Washington's diary are the 
words, " Fasted all day." 

Both sides prepared for war. The English government re- 
moved to Boston regiments from other points of America, 



156 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and re-enforced Governor Gage from England, so that before 
the end of the year he had eleven regiments — -more than five 
thousand soldiers — in a town of which the resident population 
was only ten or twelve thousand. It was difficult to provide 
barracks for them. Percy's brigade spent the winter in tents 
on Boston Common. 

On the other side, every town in New England was train- 
ing its militia to arms. Picked companies of " Minute-men," 
to be ready to march at a moment's notice, received special 
discipline. On the ist day of September Gage sent a force 
by water five miles up the Mystic River to bring in some 
powder from a powder-house. The echo to the act was the 
march on Boston of thousands 6f men in arms, who were 
siimmoned by the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts 
Assembly. So soon as it was known that he marched no 
farther this movement was countermanded. The patriot 
leaders had determined that he should not march inland. 
Occasionally he sent an officer into the country to gather 
news. Such a messenger found that he had to travel as 
secretly as a spy to conceal his position and his object, and 
that the whole country was determined that no military move- 
ment inland should be made. 

But this was not a quarrel of the colony of Massachusetts 
alone, nor of New England. It never had been. On the 
5th of September a congress of fifty-five representatives from 
eleven colonies, called at the suggestion of the Sons of Lib- 
erty, of New York, met at the Carpenters' Hall in Phila- 
delphia. It chose Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, its president, 
and assumed the title of Congress. Patrick Henry, George 
Washington, both Adamses, Gadsden and Rutledge, all of 
whom afterward filled such important trusts, were members. 
They agreed that each colony should have one vote, because 
Congress could not "procure proper materials for ascertain- 
ing the importance of each colony." They resolved to meet 
in secret session. They discussed the very difficult subject 
of their real relation to the crown of England, and they found 
already a wide difference of opinion. They voted, but not 



CONGRESS IN SESSION. 157 

unanimously, an approval of the opposition of Massachusetts 
to the late acts of Parliament, and that all America ought to 
support Massachusetts in such opposition. By a very narrow 
majority, as an act of concession, they recognized a certain 
imperial character in Parliament; but they named eleven 
acts of Parliament as violations of the rights of the colonies. 
They resolved to import no merchandise from Great Britain or 
Ireland after the ist of December, and not to export any thing 
to those countries, or the West Indies, with the single excep- 
tion of rice. They agreed to import no slaves after that time 
nor purchase any imported — " We will wholly discontinue the 
slave trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor 
will we hire our vessels or sell our commodities to those who 
are concerned in it." 

Cotigress refused to petition Parliament again ; but it sent 
addresses to the people of all the provinces of America and 
to the people of Great Britain. It appointed a second Con- 
gress to meet in May. 

While Congress sat the men of Massachusetts watched the 
governor and his army. Each side was resolved that the 
first open act in war should come from the other. No one 
expected that such a strain could last long; but neither party 
meant to give the first stroke. Massachusetts, however, was 
already practically independent of the crown. Since the 
governor had prorogued the General Court a " Provincial 
Assembly," which was really the same thing, had been chosen, 
and met without his orders. This body when it adjourned 
appointed a committee of five to be the executive of the State 
in its recess. It took the visible sign of sovereignty by 
directing the people not to pay their taxes to the royal treas- 
urer, but to a treasurer appointed by itself. And the people 
did so. If any thing could have shown the English ministry 
that they were really independent this should have done so; 
for here the whole business of government went on among a 
people who refused to recognize the royal governor. Justice 
was administered, the regular courts were conducted, roads 
were built, schools were kept, taxes paid and spent with the 



158 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

same regularity as for one hundred and fifty years before. 
But in all this not a penny was contributed at the order of 
the king or his ministers. 

The Provincial Assembly and the Committee of Safety 
had made stringent orders for the discipline of the military 
force of the colony. More than this, they had made some 
purchases of military stores, not considerable in amount, but 
important as showing their purpose. They had, without 
secrecy, directed that these stores, among which were some 
cannon with powder and shot for their use, and some pro- 
visions for soldiers on a campaign, should be stored at 
Concord. 

If Gage were to show any sign of governing, here was the 
point of his attack. He could not well break up a court of 
justice held under the authority of the people, but he assured 
himself of the existence of these military stores at Concord, 
and thought he should feel the temper of the people and 
alarm them by seizing them. As the snow and ice melted 
away, int he spring of 1775, he showed that he was not im- 
prisoned in Boston, by what he called '' a military promenade " 
one day — going out with one or two regiments by one road, 
on the south of the town, returning on another. The patri- 
ots were on the watch. They declared that if he had gone 
further he should have been driven back by their Minute- 
men. He sent one or two detachments out by water, but 
withdrew them at once. The declaration of the Americans 
was soon to be tested. 

On the niglit of the i8th of April a force of about eight 
hundred light infantry of the English army were quietly 
placed in boats and rowed across the mouth of Charles 
' River to the place now known as East Cambridge. About 
midnight they took up their march toward Concord, about 
eighteen miles northwest from them. They passed West 
Cambridge, where the Committee of Safety were, at three 
o'clock. They did not know that the executive of the colony 
was almost in their hands. But these gentlemen only escaped 
from their beds by their windows, without wasting time in 



LEXINGTON. 1 59 

dressing. The country behind them was more thoroughly 
aroused. Paul Revere had waited at Charlestown till two lan- 
terns in the North Church taught him that the expedition had 
moved by water. He knew then that Concord was the ob- 
ject. Toward that town he rode, notifying the local popular 
leaders on his way. The Minute-men turned out promptly, 
though in the middle of the night. At four o'clock in the 
morning Parker's company paraded seventy strong on Lex- 
ington Green. Not hearing of any enemy he directed them 
to go into the meeting-house to sleep; and it was not till day- 
break that, on the advance of the English, they were again 
called out and formed as a company. 

Major Pitcairn, of the English marines, came forward and 
bade them disperse. Parker himself saw that he was wholly 
outnumbered, and gave no order to fire. Neither commander 
meant to precipitate the contest, and neither of them did. 
The word was given by higher authority. 

It seems probable that some Lexington man, without orders 
from his captain, pulled his trigger. The gun flashed in the 
pan. At the flash the foremost file of English fired. Eight 
Americans fell dead; among these the soldier who had drawn 
the pent-up fire of years. Their companions returned the 
fire. One Englishman was killed. At Parker's command 
his company retired. The English cheered, and continued 
their advance to Concord. It was now day. 

The English force entered Concord about three hours 
afterward. The Minute-men of Concord withdrew before 
them from the village and joined the companies of other 
towns of Middlesex county, gathering just outside the town 
on the north side of Concord River. The English placed a 
guard on the bridge and began searching for the artillery and 
other stores. A part of these had been removed or con- 
cealed; a part were found and set on fire. The commanders of 
the American Minute-men, who were increasing in number 
with every hour, on seeing the smoke from Concord, resolved 
to force the bridge. The Acton company had the honor of 
leading the way. The English fired. Davis, the captain of 



l6o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the Acton company, was killed. His men advanced over his 
body, drove off the English company, and knew that war had 
begun. 

In face of such a force, increasing constantly. Colonel 
Smith, the English commander, could not tarry. He took 
his wounded men and began to retire on Boston. The 
Minute-men from all the towns of eastern Massachusetts were 
waiting for him and searching for him. Tiie Minute-men of 
Middlesex, who had formed at Concord, were pushing him. 
At every point of vantage men who knew every inch of the 
country attacked him. His retreat became a flight. He was 
wounded himself, and could no longer direct the movements. 
His jaded men, on the run in their panic, welcomed with joy 
at Lexington a re-enforcement under Lord Percy. 

Percy had marched from Boston at nine in the morning, 
through Roxbury and Cambridge, and arrived at Lexington 
just in time to save the wreck of the first division. But he 
saw that he must not linger. He took what he could of the 
wounded under his escort and returned to Cambridge in as 
good order as he might. But every stone wall was lined with 
fire, and night had fallen, when, to the anxious people of 
Boston waiting upon Beacon Hill, the return of the two ex- 
peditions was indicated by the flash of the musketry on the 
north side of the bay. Percy withdrew into the peninsula 
of Charlestown, stationed artillery on Charlestown Neck, and 
the flight of the English army was over. 

Gage had begun the war and had been driven back to his 
quarters. 

The English loss was 73 men killed, 174 wounded and 26 
taken prisoners. The American companies lost 49 men killed, 
39 wounded and 5 prisoners. 

Meanwhile the country was roused. North, west and south 
quick couriers took the news; and before night towns as far 
west as the Connecticut were sending their contingents of 
Minute-men toward Boston. General Ward, the head of the 
Massachusetts militia, took command. He guarded Boston 
Neck and. Charlestown Neck, that the English should- not 



THE CONTINENTAL ARMY. l6l 

come out by land. He built forts on Charles River to pre- 
vent their coming by water. He cut off all provisions from 
Boston. What is called the siege of Boston began. 

The Continental Congress met, meanwhile, for the second 
time in Philadelphia. As the delegates gathered, men ob- 
served that George Washington, the first delegate from Vir- 
ginia, was in the uniform of tlie provincial troops of that 
colony — the old blue and buff of the best days of England. 
He had traveled, on horseback, from his home to Phila- 
delphia in this dress. George Washington was widely known 
as the Virginia Patriot. For fifteen years he had been the 
leading member of the Virginia Assembly. He had com- 
manded her forces in the end of the last war. At this time 
he was the richest man in America. In the discussion at 
tending the Port Bill he had offered to equip a regiment and 
march with it to Boston, at his own expense, if his services 
were needed there to preserve the liberties of America. 

When the delegates to the Congress were chosen most men 
still hoped that a dignified protest would move England; 
would change the ministry, perhaps ; would certaiiily procure 
redress. Almost all men had great confidence in the young 
king. We know now that he was his own worst enemy and 
America's, but good men then thought that he was hood- 
winked by bad men, and only needed to be enlightened. 
Congress had hardly met, however, when the news of Lex- 
ington and Concord came. On that news the Massachusetts 
Assembly met. Besides their forces the regiments of New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut were in the be- 
sieging army. The Assembly urged Congress to assume this 
army as its own and appoint its general officers. This was 
to make the army national, or, as the fine phrase was, " Con- 
tinental." 

All men understood that, while the resistance at Lexington, 
and even the pursuit which followed the retreat from Concord, 
might possibly be regarded as accident, unauthorized, such an 
act as the recognition of an army was the declaration of war. 

General Ward and his army could not wait the decision 



1 62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of this point. By a bold movement he precipitated the battle 
of Bunker Hill. The English had withdrawn from the pe- 
ninsula of Charlestown and left it unfortified, though it 
could have been held by twenty men. Ward and his ad- 
visers profited by their oversight. On the night of the i6th 
of June he sent a force of fifteen hundred men, of Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire troops, to seize 
and fortify Bunker Hill, behind the town of Charlestown. If 
he could hold 'this hill he could drive the English navy from 
the harbor of Boston. The men carried with them entrench- 
ing tools, and before daylight a considerable entrenchment 
was thrown up on Breed's farm, a spur of Bunker Hill which 
approached nearest Boston. 

Gage was taken entirely by surprise; but he acted promptly, 
even rashly. He had been largely re-enforced since the day 
of Lexington, and had with him Generals Howe, Burgoyne 
and Clinton. They made a bold resolution to attack the 
American redoubt in front ; but they v/ere not ready to attack 
till the afternoon. The works grew stronger every hour. 
At the first attack the English troops broke and ran. They 
were mostly men who had never been under fire. A second 
attack was as disastrous. It was not till the third attack that 
Howe, who had discovered the weak spot in the American 
line, pressed them in the rear of the redoubt while Pigot at- 
tacked in front. These attacks could have been resisted, 
perhaps, but the little garrison had exhausted its supply of 
powder. Prescott, the American commander, withdrew his 
men to Bunker Hill, where Putnam was fortifying. The 
English did not follow. The Connecticut contingent, wirh 
Stark and the New Hampshire men, had thrown up on the 
east a work which they defended till the failure of the re- 
doubt compelled them also to withdraw. 

Never was a victory won at such cost. The attacking 
force of 2,500 men lost 1,054 in killed and wounded. Bur- 
goyne wrote home, under the seal of secrecy, that the privates 
misbehaved. But the charge is hardly made out when we 
■read that of one company of the Fifty-second, led by Howe in 



BUNKER HILL. 1 63 

person, every man was wounded or killed. The American 
loss was 150 killed, 270 wounded and 30 prisoners. In a 
certain sense the battle decided the war ; for from this mo- 
ment the English never undervalued their enemy; and it has 
been said that from this moment the English troops were 
never led to the attack of fortified works in the Revolution. 
The attack at Groton is possibly an exception, but the large 
fort there Avas held by only a handful of men. Burgoyne 
wrote, home after the battle of Bunker Hill that "The men 
in all the corps having twice felt the enemy to be more for- 
midable than they expected, it will require some training 
before they can be prudently intrusted in many exploits 
against such odds." 



164 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

"Washington in Command. 

Congress Meets in May — Ticonderoga and Ciown Point — News from Lex- 
ington, Concord and Boston — Address of the Massachusetts Assembly 
— George Wasliington — His A])pearance in Blue and Buff — His Ap- 
pointment as Commander-in-Chief of the "Continental" Army — Gates 
and Lee Appointed to Important Posts — Washington Takes Command 
July 3 — Powder Supply Low — Arnold's Quebec Expedition — It Fails, 
After Some Successes — The Heights of Dorchester — Evacuation of Bos- 
ton — " Hostii">us Primo Fugatis " — Lee Sent to New York, Then to 
Charleston — Sea and Land Force Sent by the Enemy to Take Charles- 
ton — Attack Begun by Clinton — Spirit of the Carolinians — English 
Forces Obliged to Withdraw. 

THE Continental Congress met on the loth of May. Had 
its members known it, the very night before its meeting 
Ethan Allen with a band of volunteers from the "Hampshire 
Grants," the region which we now call Vermont, with the 
assistance of a company under Arnold from Connecticut, had 
seized the king's fort at Ticonderoga. Their possession of 
Crown Point followed. The munitions of war thus taken were 
of great value, as it proved, to the army besieging Boston. 

The Congress at once received the news of the march on 
Lexington, of the uprising of tlie people, and of the retreat 
of the English force and the consequent siege of Boston by 
the Minute-men of the four New England colonies. The 
Provincial Assembly of Massachusetts addressed Congress 
most seriously and earnestly by the delegates of that colony. 
Massachusetts begged Congress to assume the army as its 
own, and to appoint its general officers. In conversation and 
in public address they soon pointed out George Washington, 
of Virginia, himself a member of Congress, as the commander- 
in-chief whom they would prefer. 



SIEGE OF BOSTON. 



165 



Washington, as has been said, had shown, in his decided 
wav, what he thought the character of the contest. To go to 
Philadelphia and to attend the sessions of Congress he had 
assumed the blue and buff uniform of the Virginia troops, whom 
he had led in battle to such purpose in the late war. It was the 
uniform of England's 
armies in England's 
best days. The colors 
of this uniform have 
been the symbolic col- 
ors of the parties of lib- 
eral opinion in England 
from the days of Crom- 
well to our own. By 
assuming a military 
dress Washington ex- 
pressed his opinion. 
He had expressed that 
opinion in the House of 
Burgesses of Virginia. 

On the 15th of June 
he was appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of the 
patriot army, and Con- 
gress assumed that 
army as the army of 
" the Continent." This 
phrase, adopted now 
for the United States, 
conreyed the hope that 
Canada and the prov- 
ince of Nova Scotia would join them. Florida, now under 
the English flag, seemed also to these men to belong to the 
nation which was opposing the Parliament. Washington had 
not sought, nor had he expected, this appointment. He ac- 
cepted it with great modesty, and in private said that he was 
sure that 'iiis ;pu.hlic reputation would decline from this day. 




THE REVOLUTION. 

CAMPAIGNS 

OF 

1776-1778 



l66 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Several major-generals and brigadier-generals were appointed, 
an effort being made to meet the wishes of the different colonies. 
Gates and Lee, two Englishmen, of whose military capacity- 
high opinions were entertained, were named to important posts. 
This selection proved afterward to be a great misfortune. Lee 
proved a traitor and Gates caballed against the commander- 
in-chief. Both have found their true place in history. 

General Washington arrived at the camp on the 2d of 
July, and took command in form on the 3d. He appointed 
Ward, who was his senior major-general, to command on the 
right wing, which commanded the land approach to Boston. 
The left of Washington's army commanded Charlestown 
Neck, by which also the English army could have marched 
into the country. In fact, on the critical day of Lexington 
Lord Percy had marched out by the one route and returned 
by the other. Washington's army thus extended twelve miles 
from the north-east by a broken line toward the south. 

Not long after his arrival the discovery was made — almost 
fatal — that the Americans' stock of poAvder was much less than 
had been supposed. They had not nine rounds for every 
man they had under arms. It is said that Washington was 
silent for a considerable time after this revelation was made. 
Every effort was made to conceal the need even from the 
army. Every effort was made to supply it, and with such 
success that in October Washington felt strong enough to 
detach Arnold, a spirited brigadier, who had joined in the 
conquest of Ticonderoga, for an attack on Quebec. He was 
to join Schuyler, who was in command on Lake Champlain. 

Arnold pushed bravely and promptly through the wilder- 
ness of Maine, He arrived on the banks of the St. Lawrence 
in December. He climbed the Heights of Abraham, as Wolfe 
had done, and drove the little English force into the city. 
He then sent to the other army, which had in the meantime 
taken St. John and Montreal, news of his success, and, under 
General Montgomery, they joined him. On Christmas day 
the American army attacked the city. But Montgomery was 
killed and the little force was thrown back from the fortifica- 



SOUTHERN AFFAIRS. 167 

tions. As soon as spring opened Washington re-enforced them 
largely ; but, unhappily for their cause, the small-pox broke 
out in the army. General Thomas, a brave and successful 
leader, died with it, and the army suffered. It fell back 'step 
by step, and at the end of 1776 abandoned Canada. Success 
at Quebec, which at one time seemed probable, would have 
changed the history of the war ; for there the Americans 
would have found just the munitions of war which they so 
much needed. 

Washington had himself been more successful. On the 
night of the 5th of March, 1776, General Ward detached 
General Thomas, the same who has been spoken of, to seize 
two hills in Dorchester which commanded Boston harbor on 
the south. Thomas built such strong works that General 
Howe did not dare attack them. The English admiral, 
however, could not remain in the harbor while the Americans 
held them. Howe notified Washington at once that if he 
would not molest town or shipping he would leave at once 
without injuring the town. This promise he kept, and on the 
17th of March, 1776, the liberating army marched into Bos- 
ton in triumph. Congress ordered a medal of gold struck 
for Washington. It bears a portrait of him and the mottoes 
Bostonium Recuperatum and Hostibiis Primo Fugatis. For 
three months the country was left with hardly a foreign sol- 
dier on its soil. 

The American leaders knew that the English government 
would make its next great effort at New York. So soon as 
the English fleet left the harbor of Boston, therefore, Wash- 
ington began to dispatch his army to New Yor-k, and sent 
Lee to that city to take charge of its defense against an 
enemy. Lee never deceived himself or his superiors as to 
the possibility of holding the island of New York against 
such a naval force as the English could command. But he 
attempted to make it what he called disputable ground, and 
he succeeded. He was, however, soon called farther south. 

General Clinton, who was next in command to Howe, and 
who knew America well> had been put in command of a land 



l68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

force, which, with the co-operation of a large English fleet, was 
to take the city of Charleston, in South Carolina, and so secure 
a foothold in the southern States for the army which had 
been dislodged from the northern. The plan was the favorite 
plan of the king, who selected seven regiments who were to 
carry it out, and put them under Earl Cornwall is, a brilliant 
young officer, who had friends at court who never forgot him. 
Clinton, from Halifax, to which place of refuge Howe had 
retired, joined this force, and took command of it at Wil- 
mington, in North Carolina. To meet it Lee was summoned 
from the north and took the command of the Americans on 
the 4th of June, at Charleston. But the detail of the history 
seems to show that the issue was due not to him, but to the 
spirit of the Carolinians and the people of Charleston. Lee 
had not then learned, and never did learn, what is the real 
force of a people determined to fight for its rights. He was 
always hampered, and on this occasion he hampered those 
under his command, by the technicalities — to which he gave 
too much importance — of his military education. 

On the 28th of June the English moved to the attack by 
water and by land. The Admiral, Parker, had ten ships — two 
of them of fifty guns. Clinton landed the soldiers on Long 
Island — to the north of Sullivan's Island — on which Colonel 
Moultrie had built, and was still building, the fort which from 
that day took his name. Lee seems to have doubted whether 
he could hold it, but the Carolinians staked all on their suc- 
cess — and succeeded. After a very close fire the squadron 
was withdrawn with a terrible loss of men. Clinton was at 
no moment able to cross the cr^ek which separated him from 
Sullivan Island. And thus this strong and well-equipped 
expedition wa'S withdrawn — having been beaten off by the 
brave opposition of the people of the province; who had really 
no assistance from the Continental army. Recriminations 
most bitter followed between the English Admiral Parker, 
who was himself wounded, and the commanders of the land 
forces. Such was the first news whi^h George IJI. was to 
receive of -the n^ew campaign. 



FALSE POSITION. 169 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Declaration of Independence. 

Congress in a False Position — Public Opinion Changes — Resolutions of 
Independence and Signature of the Declaration — Arrival of the Plowes 
in New York Harbor — "The Olive Branch" — It Does Not Answer 
the Purpose — Howe's Army Landed on Long Island — Beats the 
Americans There — Washington Is Obliged to Abandon New York — 
Battle of White Plains — Both Armies Move Southward — Washington 
Crossing the Delaware — Battles of Trenton and Princeton — With- 
drawal of Cornwallis — Washington at Morristown. 

THUS far the war had been carried on by the colonies 
under the declaration, often publicly made, that they 
had no quarrel with the king, but that they fought against his 
wicked ministry. Indeed, the Continental Congress, while it 
commissioned the officers of the army to fight against his 
troops, also sent a petition to him representing, as subjects 
might represent, the wrongs of his American colonies. But 
every day showed that it was impossible to maintain this de- 
lusion. No one, indeed, did more to dispel it than George 
III. himself, who was from the beginning to the end of the 
controversy the most resolute and blind enemy of the new- 
born States. 

As the winter of 1775 and the spring of 1776 passed by, 
men felt more and more that the position was a false one. 
In February, 1776, men summoned to do jury service in 
Massachusetts under the old form, by "King George III.," 
refused to serve, because they said they owed him no alle- 
giance and would render him no service. At the same time 
Thomas Paine, who had recently arrived from England, pub- 
lished a pamphlet called Common Sense, which stated simply 
that as the colonies were independent, and did not mean to 
obey the king, they had better say so. This pamphlet was 



I/O 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



every-where read. Different State assemblies began to urge 
Congress to take this position. It was the position which 
Samuel Adams had looked forward to for years, and to which 
he and men like him had tried to educate the country. 

Under the steady pressure of the people the Congress fol- 
lowed, rather than led, a fixed and unerring demand. On 
the 2d of July, 1776, the thirteen States, in Congress assem- 
bled, resolved unanimously that the " Thirteen colonies are, 
and of right ought to be, independent States." The dele- 
gates signed the well-known Declaration of Independence. 
The day on which the document was engrossed and signed by 




most of them was the Fourth of July, and that day has ever 
since been celebrated as the birthday of the nation. 

When the Declaration was signed, the nation, as has been 
said, had hardly a foreign soldier on its soil. But not many 
days after General Howe re-appeared, with a fleet commanded 
by Lord Howe, his brother, in the harbor of New York. A 
part of this force was the Boston army, recruited and re- 
freshed at Halifax. A part was from England and a part was 
Clinton's force from Carolina, Altogether, the army num- 



TRENTON. 



171 



bered thirty-one thousand men; the largest army ever on foot 
in one place in America until the civil war of 1861. 

The two Howes announced at once that they had brought 
" the olive branch." They had, indeed, large promises tend- 
ing to reconciliation. But the English government had not 
yet contemplated a Declaration of Independence, and they 
had no credentials which permitted them to acquiesce in it. 
After an informal interview with a committee of Congress, there- 
fore, the "olive branch" was withdrawn, and General Howe 
landed his army on Long Island a little south of Brooklyn. 

Washington had occupied New York and Brooklyn with 
the Continental army, and had fortified both places. He 
was, however, largely outnumbered. 
The whole Continental army was not 
equal to Howe's, and considerable de- 
tachments of it were in Canada and at 
the north. Howe attacked the force 
on Long Island with spirit, beat it in 
the battle of Long Island, August 27, 
and drove it within its works at Brook- 
lyn. The loss of the Americans was 
severe — nearly three hundred killed 
and wounded and almost one thousand 
prisoners. Howe lost only three hun- 
dred and sixty-seven men. When the ^^^^^ 
news of this victory reached England he was made Sir William 
Howe by the concession of the title of a Knight of the Bath. 

Washington withdrew his army to New York. The En- 
glish frigates ran by the island in spite of his efforts to stop 
them by his batteries. He gradually withdrew his force up 
Manhattan Island, fighting as he went, but finally yielded the 
island, excepting Fort Washington, to Howe, in the latter part 
of October. Howe followed him to White Plains, where a bat- 
tle indecisive in results was fought on the 28th of October, 
Howe then determined to cross the Jerseys, perhaps with a 
view of attacking Philadelphia. Washington crossed the North 
River above him and retired before him, crossing the Delaware. 







172 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In this change of position he lost Fort Washington, with 
two thousand men, and was obliged to abandon Fort Lee. 
These were the two points, one on Harlem Heights, the other 
Opposite, where the Americans had hoped to hold the passage 
of the Hudson River. 

Winter was coming on. With the year ended the enlist- 
ment of Washington's army. Repeated defeats had discour- 
aged them. Lee, the second in command, was taken prisoner 
while the retreat went on. It has since proved that Lee was 
in treacherous correspondence with the enemy. 

It was then that Washington turned upon the force so 
largely his superior. " Now is the time to clip their wings," 
he said, "when they are so far spread." On the morning of 
the 26th of December he surprised the advanced post at 
Trenton and took one thousand prisoners. A few days after 
he cut the English line of supplies at Princeton, in New 
Jersey, and took five hundred prisoners. Cornwallis, in com- 
mand of the English, withdrew hastily to Brunswick, to pro- 
tect the supplies of the army there, and Washington, who had 
meanwhile re-enlisted a considerable part of his army, took 
up his winter quarters somewhat to the north of Brunswick, 
at Morristown. 



BURGOYNES PLANS. 173 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Burgoyne and the Campaign of 1 777. 

New York Becomes the Center of English Operations — General Sir John 
Burgoyne — His Expedition at First Successful — Americans Defeated 
at Ticonderoga and Hubbardston — Burgoyne's Detachments Beaten 
at Bennington and Oriskany — Massachusetts and Connecticut 
Strengthen Gates's Army — Burgoyne's Unsuccessful Attempts to 
Break the Americans — His Surrender at Saratoga — Howe Engages 
Washington at the Southward — Battle of the Brandywine — Congress 
Obliged to Leave Philadelphia to Howe — Battle of Germantown — 
Skirmishing During the Autumn — Washington's Winter Quarters at 
Valley Forge. 

SO soon as the American question came into the hands of 
military men they advised the Engh'sh government to 
make New York the center of their operations. So long as 
there had been a theory that Boston had been the only point 
really in rebellion it was natural that the principal force for 
the suppression of that rebellion should be stationed there. 
But when it was evident that the "Continent" was in arms, 
the English arrangements, like those of their enemies, were 
made on a continental scale. 

General John Burgoyne had a certain reputation as a mili- 
tary, man founded on very slight performances. He returned 
to England in 1775 and advised the re-enforcement of Canada 
by an expedition under his own command, which should be 
strong enough to move down the Hudson River, and, as the 
dream of the time suggested, cut off New England from what 
were thought to be the more loyal colonies of the Middle 
States and the south. 

Fortune favored Burgoyne at the beginning. The small- 
pox had more than decimated the Continental army in Can- 
ada. It had lost its best generals, with the exception of Ar- 



174 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

nold, in the death of Montgomery and Thomas. It had re- 
tired from the bold attack on Quebec, and in June it aban- 
doned Montreal. Schuyler, who was for the time in com- 
mand, was well satisfied to hold Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point, at the southern end of Lake Champlain, and to defend 
that highway into Canada through which his army had passed 
so confidently the year before. 

As 1777 began, Burgoyne, with a well-appointed and suffi- 
cient army, followed up the English advantage. In a mag- 
nificent fleet he sailed south along Lake Champlain. St. 
Clair, who was the American commander, abandoned Crown 
Point, but he hoped to hold Ticonderoga. By a bold push, 
however, Burgoyne seized the Sugar Loaf hill, above the 
fortress, which St. Clair had supposed inaccessible. It com- 
manded the works entirely, and thus Ticonderoga, the key to 
New York, was lost by the Americans as suddenly as it had 
been gained two years before. St. Clair retired through the 
woods, covering his rear with a force of thirteen hundred 
men, commanded by Francis. They were overtaken at Hub- 
bardston and defeated. Francis and fifty men were killed 
and three hundred men were taken prisoners. Schuyler 
seemed, to the indignant people of New England, to be able 
to do nothing but retreat. The executive of Massachusetts 
assailed him with contemptuous letters, and told him frankly 
that their militia would not serve under him. He and his 
superiors were obliged to give way under this storm of indig- 
nation. Gates, now the second in command to Washington, 
became commander to the northern army, as it was called. 
What was more to the point, as it proved, Arnold and Lincoln 
were directed to serve under him. 

Burgoyne slowly advanced, keeping a line of communica- 
tion with Canada. Partly to feed his army, partly to discour- 
age rebellion, he sent out large foraging parties, as they must 
be called, to the west and east. Both parties were badly led 
and came to misfortune. In Vermont, Baum and Breyman, 
Hessian commanders, were met and beaten at Bennington by 
the militia of the " Hampshire Grants " under General Stark. 



burgoyne's surrender. 175 

They lost nearly one thousand men. At Oriskany St. Leger 
hardly escaped from the militia of the Americans under 
Herkimer and Willett. 

Burgoyne himself, with the military precision of an Aus- 
trian general of Daun's time, moved slowly toward the Hudson 
and crossed it. He hoped for co-operation from Howe at New- 
York, and always said that he had been encouraged to expect 
it. But no aid came from the south. The western counties 
of Massachusetts and Connecticut stripped themselves to the 
last man that they might strengthen Gates. Lincoln, the 
Massachusetts general, and Arnold, from Connecticut, were 
in front of Burgoyne. Burgoyne attempted to break the 
Americans in the battle of Stillwater, on the 19th of Septem- 
ber, but he lost more than six hundred and fifty men and was 
driven back to his lines. On the 7th of October he renewed 
the attempt, to f;^il again. Meanwhile his retreat to Lake 
Champlain was cut off. He had an army here in a wilder- 
ness and he could not even feed it. He received no news 
from Clinton, whom Howe had detached to assist him, and the 
great result was, that on the 13th of October he opened com- 
munications for a surrender with Gates, and on the 17th his 
army laid down their arms as prisoners of war. Five thousand 
seven hundred and fifty men were included in the capitu- 
lation. 

The great news flew to every part of the country. The 
government of Massachusetts sent a special messenger with 
it to Franklin, in France. The chaise which bore the for- 
tunate messenger from. Nantes rattled up into the court-yard 
of Franklin's house at Passy, near Paris, and the young man 
sprang to the ground. Franklin had come out to welcome 
him, "Is it true, sir," said Franklin, " that Howe has entered 
Philadelphia?" "It is, sir," said the modest messenger. 
" But I have greater news than that. General Burgoyne and 
his army are prisoners of war." 

The battles of Saratoga have been ranked together among 
the fifteen decisive battles of the world's history. France no 
longer doubted as to an American alliance. She announced 



176 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

herself publicly as the friend of the insurgents, whom she had 
before assisted secretly. After this the question of formal 
independence was only a question of time. 

Meanwhile, Howe had supposed that he should best assist 
Burgoyne by draAving Washington to the south, away from 
the Northern army. It was afterward said that the despatches 
which ordered him to move directly north to meet Burgoyne 
were left, unsent, in a pigeon-hole in the English war-office, 
because Lord George Germaine, the minister of the colonies, 
did not like the hand-writing and ordered them copied. It 
is said that the copy was forgotten and Howe left to follow 
his own purpose. 

From a military point of view that purpose can be well 
defended. But it was Washington to whom Howe was op- 
posed ; and Washington was so true to the nation and so 
indifferent to his own reputation that he stripped himself of 
every available man and of all necessary supplies to strengthen 
Gates, who, so soon after, appeared as his rival. When Howe 
sailed, with most of his army, from New York, Washington 
thought for a moment that he was threatening Boston. But 
the squadron was soon reported at the south-west, and Wash- 
ington then moved his army to cover Philadelphia. For five 
weeks of doubt Howe's squadron did not appear. Men even 
thought he had gone so far as Charleston. But at the end of 
August it was announced that he was in Chesapeake Bay. 
He thus avoided the American fortifications on the Delaware 
and drew Washington even farther from the north. 

Washington attempted to resist his progress at the River 
Brandy wine, and fought a battle there on the nth of Sep- 
tember. But his generals were out-maneuvered by the skill 
of Cornwallis and Knyphausen, and he was forced to retreat 
and leave Howe an open passage to Philadelphia. Congress, 
meanwhile, removed with its papers to Lancaster. On the 
4th of October Washington attacked Germantown, a suburb 
of Philadelphia. For a moment he seemed to have succeeded, 
but again liis generals retired, and he was obliged to acknowl- 
edge another failure to Congress and the country. But he 



VALLEY FORGE. 1 77 

lost nothing in reputation. In Europe the steadiness of the 
attack on Germantown, immediately after a defeat, was no- 
ticed as a proof that this was an army, and not an armed mob, 
which he commanded. And for many weeks the country 
held the opinion, which John Adams expressed in a private 
letter, that " Howe was in his hands." When the news of 
Burgoyne's surrender arrived in Pennsylvania, in the enthu- 
siasm of victory the American leaders wrote to their friends 
that they might soon expect to hear of a second capitulation. 
This was not to be. The American forts on the Delaware, 
which were relied upon to separate the English army from 
its supplies, gave way, and the autumn afterward was spent 
in skirmishes, which sometimes almost claim the dignity of 
battles, between foraging parties of the English, and Amer- 
ican light troops who tried to check them. When winter 
came Washington took his army into winter quarters at Val- 
ley Forge, not far west of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill ; 
a post from which he couid observe every movement into 
the country by Howe, had that indolent commander made 
any. 

8* 



178 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

1778-1779. 

The Alliance with France — Clinton's Appointment to Howe's Position — 
The Battle of Monmouth — Arrival of a French Fleet — Advantages 
of the Alliance — Reasons for British Inactivity — Military Exploits at 
the North and South — Results of the Year 1779. 

SO soon as the critical news of the success at Saratoga 
arrived in France the king and his cabinet gave way to 
the pressure of public opinion and announced their willing- 
ness to recognize America as independent, and to make a 
treaty of alliance with her. This treaty was not at once ac- 
companied by an open declaration of war with England. 
Lord North hoped, for a moment, that he might yet conciliate 
the colonies and reserve the whole power of England for a 
war with France. He sent new commissioners, with larger 
powers than before, to induce Congress to make terms of 
peace, this time recognizing that body as the executive of 
America. But he was too late, as he always was in such 
proposals. 

General Howe had owed his advancement in the army to the 
fact that he was a descendant, by an illegitimate line, of 
George I. He had shown courage at Quebec and at Bunker 
Hill, and of the latter battle he had borne away the honors. 
He had been named as Gage's successor after Gage was with- 
drawn, and after his own signal success at Brooklyn he had 
been knighted. But he was indolent, and lacked enterprise. 
He had failed in his own theory of relieving Burgoyne by tak- 
ing away his enemy, and as the winter passed he also was 
recalled to England and Sir Henry Clinton was appointed to 
succeed him. Clinton knew America well. He was the son 
of one of the royal governors of New York. 

Clinton knew that a French fleet was approaching him. 



d'estaings squadron. 179 

He left Philadelphia with his whole army of fourteen thou- 
sand men and marched across the Jerseys to New York, 
closely followed and watched by Washington. At Monmouth 
Washington attacked him, or ordered an attack. Lee insisted 
on his right to command the attacking partv after it had been 
assigned to Lafayette. Lee's misbehavior or his treachery, 
discouraged the attack after it seemed to bei.in successfully, 
and Washington met him in full retreat. Washington gave 
him a rebuke which showed his impetuosity when he was 
excited, took command of the retreating forces and restored 
the hope of victory. But it was too late to win all the hon- 
ors. The terrible heat of that summer's day was long made a 
proverb in America. Each party claimed the victory, and the 
losses, which were considerable on each side, showed that it 
had been a bravely contested field. Each side lost nearly 
four hundred men. 

At the beginning of the year the French government 
detached a strong fleet under the Count D'Estaing into 
American waters. It was hoped and supposed that by 
breaking up the supremacy of the English by sea the Amer- 
ican armies might be the superior by land. Had D'Estaing 
arrived a few days earlier all might have happened which was 
hoped for ; for his fleet was superior to the English, and had 
he cooped them up in the Delaware bay the English army in 
Philadelphia might have been starved, or beaten in the field. 

But Clinton had already withdrawn to New York, sending 
his fleet round to the bay of New York. They left the Del- 
aware only a few days before D'Estaing's arrival. D'Estaing 
followed them, and bravely attempted to enter New York har- 
bor; but the pilots declined to take in such heavy vessels, 
and after lying a few days in the offing he went to Rhode 
Island, where, on his approach, the English burned twenty of 
their vessels to keep them from his hands. 

General Sullivan, with the militia of Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island, at once attempted an attack on the English 
force at Newport, with the assistance of D'Estaing's squadron. 
But at this juncture Lord Howe, the English admiral, boldly 



l8o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

threatened D'Estaing, who went to sea to fight him. The 
action was indecisive, but D'Estaing took up his way to Bos- 
ton harbor to refit. Sullivan and his army considered them- 
selves deserted. He attacked the English lines with courage, 
however, but without success, and on the news of English 
re-enforcements withdrew. The English general, not finding 
D'Estaing or Sullivan, destroyed New Bedford, which he 
rightly considered a nest of privateers. 

The Americans generally were disappointed that the ad- 
vantages of the French alliance were so slight ; but such 
disappointment was unreasonable. French stores clothed and 
armed the Continental army that year. A fortunate capture of 
English store-ships enabled Massachusetts to fit out D'Estaing 
for the West Indies. His supremacy at sea kept the English 
squadron virtually on the defensive. In short, the rest which 
the country gained from all critical operations for the year 
1778 was the legitimate result of the French alliance. 

In one of Cowper's poems, which was written about this 
period, he speaks of the English army as drugged at New 
York. Doubtless his amazement at the inaction of an army 
so costly and so largely supplied was shared by most of his 
countrymen. Such inaction was not due wholly to the indo- 
lence of generals, though it was convenient to assign it to 
that cause. The king was always arbitrary, and determined 
to persevere in his mad colonial system even after wiser men 
saw its absurdity. Lord North was anxious for conciliation. 
But he already knew the fatal secret of the king's incipient 
insanity, and he dared not thwart him. Meanwhile the im- 
mense force of American privateers was sweeping the seas. 
Rates of insurance became formidable, and the merchants of 
London were no longer enthusiastic supporters of the war. 
They were bearing its charges and knew they were. All these 
reasons conspired in compelling Lord North to hold the king's 
rage in check as well as he could, while, on the other hand, 
he dared not make peace. The confused condition of things 
in which he found himself after Burgoyne's defeat and the 
open French alliance accounts for a certain languor in his 



MASSACRE OF WYOMING. l8l 

prosecution of the war. In another chapter the reader will 
learn how active was the work of the American cruisers at 
sea, and hovv much it had to do in depressing in England the 
rage for conquest. In the very year of which we have sketched 
the passage, the stores which were intended for the English 
fleet were, in fact, captured by Massachusetts cruisers, were 
taken into Boston harbor, and were used, as has been said, for 
the outfit of D'Estaing's fleet on its way to the West Indies. 

It was, however, in this summer, when the larger armies 
were more at rest, that in the beautiful valley of Wyoming, 
on the upper Susquehanna, the terrible massacre took place 
which is indissolubly connected with that name. In the au- 
tumn of the same year the Indians of the Six Nations, who 
had to revenge themselves for the losses they had suffered at 
Oriskany, attacked and burned Cherry Valley, in New York. 
In May of the same summer Captain Rogers Clark, one of 
the brave pioneers of Kentucky, had surprised and seized 
the English forts in what is now the State of Illinois. 

As 1779 opened the English thought to carry the scene of 
the war to the South, where, as they supposed, they had more 
allies than at the North. Colonel Campbell was sent with 
two thousand men to reduce Savannah, and proceeded to do 
so. Lincoln was then appointed by Congress to command 
the American forces. The English raised some loyalist 
troops, and these and the patriot militia kept up what we 
have since learned to call a " Guerrilla Contest " through 
Georgia and both the Carolinas, with great bitterness on each 
side. On the nth of May, General Provost, in command of 
the English, summoned Charleston to surrender. But his 
demand was refused, and after threatening the city for some 
time he retired upon Savannah. 

At the North, Governor Tryon, with a body of loyalists, as 
they were called, and enough English regiments to make up 
three thousand men, seized and plundered New Haven and 
Norwalk, only to withdraw again. Clinton had already taken 
the forts on the Hudson at Stony Point .and Verplanck's 
Point. Under Washington's direct orders. .General Wayne, 



1 82 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

already known as " Mad Anthony," stormed Stony Point at 
midnight on the 15th of July and took five hundred prison- 
ers and fifteen pieces of cannon. On the 19th of August 
Major Lee (Light Horse Harry) surprised Paulus Hook, now 
Jersey City, and carried off its garrison. 

In August the State of Massachusetts, acting on its own 
account, undertook to assert its own empire on the Penobscot 
River, where its government then extended, as the Province of 
Maine belonged to it. With a fleet of three Continental ves- 
sels, three ships of the State navy and thirteen privateers, she 
sent a thousand men to reduce the English post there. But 
the fort proved too strong for capture by assault, and while 
squadron and army waited for slower approach they were 
shut in by an English fleet of five ships. Saltonstall, the 
American commander, thought this too strong a force to re- 
sist, and burned his fleet, which consisted of smaller vessels. 
The sailors and troops returned home by land, Lovel and Sal- 
tonstall, their commanders, sadly disgraced by their failure. 

With such events, of which none were of critical impor- 
tance, the year 1779 passed by. Men were discouraged 
that nothing more important followed on the sacrifices of the 
war. But, on the other hand, where the armies were not in 
the presence of each other — that is to say, in three fourths of 
the country, men went on with the ordinary pursuits of agri- 
culture as if the new nation were at peace. The Eastern 
States, cut off as they were from the fisheries to which they 
were accustomed, were fitting out their vessels as privateers 
and went in quest of more dangerous game. They not only 
crippled the commerce of England, but they opened new 
channels for their own and considerably enriched the coun- 
try by the prizes which they brought in. 

All men knew, however, that France must enter the con- 
flict on a larger scale in another year. The year 1779 had 
seen an inefficient plan for a French descent upon the Irish 
coast or that of Jersey, which did not, however, assume any 
considerable proportions. More efficient co-operation with 
America was proposed for 1780. 



NAVAL WARFARE. I83 



CHAPTER XX. 

The War at Sea. 

Seizure of English Vessels — Commissions Given to Privateers and Equip- 
ment of Vessels — Navy of Twenty-six Vessels — Numerous Privateers 
— Important Captures — Ezekiel Hopkins and His Captures — John Paul 
Jones — Depredations on the English Coast — Wickes of the Reprisal 
— His Prizes oft' the French Coast — Complaints of Lord Stormont, and 
Connivance of Vergennes — Wickes is Lost on the Home Voyage — Gus- 
tavus Conyngham Sails from Dunkirk — He Captures the Harwich 
Packet — He and His Crew Detained as Prisoners, but Soon Released 
— Subsequent Exploits in the Narrow Seas — Captured and Imprisoned 
in England— His Escape — Miserable Condition of American Prison- 
ers in England — Black Prince and Princess and Fearnot — John Paul 
Jones of the j?aM^<fr Cruises on the Scotch Coast — Bon Homtne Richard 
— Expedition on the English Coast with Four Other Vessels — Baltic 
Fleet, Convoyed by the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough — 
Jones's Victory. 

IMMEDIATELY after the battle of Lexington had begun 
the war, the seizure of one or two English vessels by the 
people of the sea-ports of the New England States made the 
first steps in what became a very important part of the con- 
test. As the reader already knows, Washington commissioned 
vessels in the first summer of his command. The State of 
Massachusetts gave commissions to privateers also, and 
other States followed the same example. It was the earnest 
wish of John Adams that the country should go with spirit 
into the formation of a navy; and as early as the 13th of 
October, 1775, Congress authorized the equipment of two 
cruisers, and before the end of that year directed that fifteen 
vessels should be built. Many of these vessels never got to 
sea, having been blockaded in the rivers where they were 
built, and burned to escape capture from the enemy. But 
from this time forward the navy and the privateers bore an 



I84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

important part in the war, and probably the injuries which 
they inflicted upon the commerce of England had a larger 
share than any successes on the land in changing the public 
opinion of England with regard to the independence of 
America. 

Before October, 1776, the little navy consisted of 26 vessels, 
which mounted 526 guns. The force of privateers was very 
much larger. These vessels cruised in all parts of the Atlan- 
tic. Before the ist of February, 1777, 250 English vessels 
in the West India trade alone had been captured by the 
Americans. Their value was estimated at ten million dol- 
lars. In the year 1777, 467 vessels of the English commercial 
fleet were captured. Nearly half of the fleet which traded 
directly between Ireland and the West Indies was taken; 
and of the vessels in the African trade only 40 escaped out 
of 400, The next year the captures were even larger. 
Before the end of 1780 the largest of the three admiralty 
districts of Massachusetts had condemned 818 prizes in all. 
In the next year, 1781, the port of Salem alone sent to sea 59 
privateers. Of these, 12 carried 20 guns or more. The 
whole fleet, from that port only, carried nearly 4,000 men, 
and mounted 746 guns. 

It will be seen, then, that the privateer fleet of the country 
was much larger than what was called the national navy. 
It was also, on the whole, much more successful. It is 
impossible, in such a history as this, to go into the details of 
the different adventures, whether of the navy or of the priva- 
teers. We must be satisfied by giving some slight account of 
the more important expeditions and their results. The 
school of the navy and the privateer service proved a very 
valuable training for the future of the country. And many 
men who afterward distinguished themselves in naval war- 
fare learned their first lesson in the hardships of these 
voyages. 

The appointments made to the navy begin with a list of 
officers named by Congress on the 22d of December, 1775. 
Of these Ezekiel Hopkins, of Rhode Island, was the com- 



EZEKIEL HOPKINS. 1 85 

mander-in-chief. Hopkins was then put in charge of a little 
squadron which was sent to the Bahamas, in the hope, 
which was not disappointed, of obtaining a supply of pow- 
der and other munitions, so much needed, from the capture 
of the English forts there. On his return with his little 
fleet Hopkins engaged a small English squadron off Block 
Island, with an indecisive result. He incurred popular dis- 
pleasure on account of his failure in this transaction, and 
eventually he was practically dropped from the lists of the 
navy. But he showed the mistake of those who superseded 
him by the spirit with which he engaged in the privateer 
service, in which he had great success. It is said of him 
that in a vessel under his command he once actually joined 
the West India fleet under convoy of an English officer, and 
that every night he captured one vessel of that fleet and sent 
a prize crew on board until he had made ten different prizes, 
when he withdrew himself successfully. It is said that of 
the prizes taken in this single expedition the value was a 
million dollars. 

Among the lieutenants commissioned in this first list of 
naval officers was John Paul Jones. He served under Hop- 
kins in these early battles, and afterward, in command of a 
small vessel, took several prizes in and near the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. On his return to America he was disappointed 
at finding that the rank assigned him was very low, and he 
made a personal visit to Philadelphia and there obtained the 
command of the cruiser Ranger, which he took to Europe. 
This was just after Burgoyne's defeat, and he had hoped to 
be able to carry the news of that great event to the American 
commissioners in Paris. In this he was disappointed. But 
he refitted the Ranger for sea, and in the next year took the 
Drake, an English vessel of nearly equal force, and brought 
her into harbor. This action gave him great distinction 
among the people of France, who were very cordially dis- 
posed toward America, and put him in position to seek a higher 
command. There was at one time some prospect of his 
receiving this command in the French navy. But circum- 



186 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Stances made this impossible, and another arrangement was 
made for him. 

The American cruisers had been a terror on the English 
coast for more than a year before. The depredations of Cap- 
tain Conyngham, in particular, had wrought a panic in the 
maritime circles. 

When Franklin, Deane and Lee were chosen to constitute 
the American mission in Paris, one of their various duties 
was to be the procuring of ships for the American navy. It 
was also thought possible that cruisers might be fitted out on 
the continent to sail under American commissions and harass 
the English trade. The second of these plans proved more 
easy than the first. Franklin sailed from America on the 27th 
of October, 1776, in the frigate Reprisal, of which Wickes 
was captain. He reached Nantes on the 7th of December. 
The voyage was not a long one, nor had it been eventful. 
Twice had the Reprisal been chased by English cruisers, but 
at no time had there been any imminent danger. Wickes had 
also made prizes of two English ships which he came upon 
shortly after reaching the coast of France. These he disposed 
of as quickly as possible and proceeded to refit his ship. In 
the meantime he went about the seaports of western France 
to see if there might not be some ships for sale in one or an- 
other which would be suitable for use in the American navy. 
It had been expected that some such ship should be obtained 
and that Wickes should be put in command of it. He recom- 
mended Nicholson as a good man to take command of the 
Reprisal, in case he should be provided for. When his ship 
was ready, in the summer of 1777, he went to sea and picked 
up some five prizes, with which he returned to L'Orient. 
These captures created much disturbance. Lord Stormont, 
the English Ambassador, complained bitterly to the French 
court that American vessels should be allowed to refit in 
French ports and then issue thence to prey upon English 
commerce, yhe whole proceeding was, in truth, an open vio- 
lation of the neutrality of France, of which that nation would 
have undoubtedly taken some serious notice had she not 



FRENCH NEUTRALITY. 1 8/ 

been favorably disposed toward the Americans, whom, indeed, 
she was secretly aiding by money and munitions in their 
struggle. Although Vergennes, the French minister, was in- 
clined to wink at these acts of Wickes, he was forced by his 
regard for appearances to do something. He sent orders to 
L'Orient that Wickes should quit that port within twenty- 
four hours. This could not be done, for the Reprisal was 
hauled up for repairs. In time, however, Wickes left L'Orient 
and sailed for Nantes, where he went on with his refitting. 
Being ordered out of Nantes he returned to L'Orient, and 
joining the Lexington, privateer, and the Dolphin, cutter, he 
sailed on another cruise as successful as the first. They had 
captured seventeen prizes, when they were chased by a large 
ship-of-war. Wickes escaped to St. Malo after throwing his 
guns overboard to lighten his ship. He was much irritated by 
the behavior of the English ship. " They pay very little re- 
gard to the laws of neutrality," he writes, " as they chased me 
and fired as long as they dared stand in, for fear of running 
ashore." Wickes himself was one of the most flagrant vio- 
lators of neutrality, though he seems to have been quite un- 
conscious of it. His proceedings in French ports were as 
much breaches of neutrality as was the Englishman's chasing 
him within the maritime league which is reserved by inter- 
national law. These were, however, Wickes's last exploits. 
He shortly sailed for America. He never reached his own 
country, however, for he and his ship were lost on the return 
voyage off the banks of Newfoundland, where all on board, 
but one, perished. For themselves these operations were of 
no very great importance. Wickes inflicted no very great 
damage on English commerce, although he made some stir. 
The next achievement of the American navy was more im- 
portant. 

Deane, one of the commissioners in Paris, had long had at 
heart the fitting out of an expedition to cruise in the channel 
and pick up the English merchantmen. In conjunction with 
William Hodge he fitted out a small lugger at Dunkirk and 
commissioned Gustavus Conyngham as captain. Conyngham 



1 88 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

sailed in the summer of 1777, and, coming across the mail 
packet from Harwich, he easily made prize of it and returned 
to Dunkirk. This expedition was such a breach of neutrality 
that the French court could not let it pass unnoticed. The 
packet was returned, and Conyngham and his crew were 
detained as prisoners. They did not remain in confinement 
long, however. Deane and Hodge fitted out another vessel for 
Conyngham, and, obtaining his release and that of his crevv, 
they sent him to sea again, assuring the French court that the 
voyage was for trading purposes only. Conyngham, as soon 
as he got to sea, made prize of every thing he could. He 
hovered about the English towns and endeavored to burn the 
town of Lynn, but unsuccessfully. He was finally driven from 
the narrow seas and found refuge in Corunna, whence he sailed 
for America. On the way he was so unfortunate as to be capt- 
ured by the Galatea and carried a prisoner into New York. 
Thence he was sent prisoner to England to be tried as a 
pirate, for it was pretended that he had had no commission 
when he captured the Harwich packet. But being confined 
in the Mill Prison, Plymouth, he succeeded in breaking out, 
with some fifty of his fellow-prisoners, and making his way to 
Amsterdam, 

This is a proper place to say a word in regard to the 
American prisoners who were confined in England. They 
consisted of seamen taken in merchantmen or in ships-of- 
war. There were about a thousand of them, more or less, 
and their condition was most miserable. Franklin was unre- 
mitting in his labors to effect an exchange. He had at his 
control some few English prisoners, but for a long time he 
could not arrange a cartel. The reason of this seems to be 
that as long as France was at peace with England there was 
no way of securing the prisoners taken on the French coast 
by American cruisers. They could not be confined on shore; 
they were too numerous to be kept on shipboard. Hence 
they were generally discharged on giving their word, each that 
he would release one American prisoner. But these paroles 
were repudiated, and not unjustly, by the English authorities. 



' JOHN PAUL JONES. 1 89 

Thus Franklin could not collect any considerable number of 
English prisoners, and no exchange could be effected. After 
France declared for America the English became more will- 
ing to make the exchange, for the Englishmen captured by 
the American cruisers were put into French prisons. A cartel 
was finally brought about and a number of the prisoners were 
exchanged. 

The Black Prince, privateer, and her consorts, the Black 
Princess and the Fearnot, were fitted out in the port of 
Dunkirk in the spring of 1778 by the agents of the com- 
missioners at Paris. They were commanded generally by 
Irishmen, and their crews were composed of English, Irish 
and Scotch, who were to be found in numbers floating around 
Dunkirk, and also with such American seamen as might be 
found. They were most successful, and probably paid for 
themselves many times over. The Black Prince and Princess 
are said to have taken eighty prizes in the course of a single 
year. The original Black Prince was wrecked and lost, but 
her owners built a new vessel which bore the old name. 

But the greatest exploits of the American navy abroad 
were performed by John Paul Jones. Jones, as has been 
said, had sailed from Philadelphia in the Ranger. She was a 
ship of eighteen guns. On this vessel he displayed the Stars 
and Stripes for the first time that that flag had been used on 
shipboard. He had a short passage, in the course of which 
he captured two prizes, and, at once opening communications 
with Franklin, proposed various schemes for annoying the 
English shipping and ravaging the English coast. In the 
spring he sailed in the Ranger to cruise on the Scotch 
coast. He was foiled in his attempt to burn Lynn Haven, 
but on his return he met and captured \h^ Drake, zxi English 
ship-of-war of twenty guns, with which he returned to Brest. 

He very much desired to command the Indian, a frigate at 
that time on the stocks in Amsterdam. But this vessel, though 
begun for the United States, had been turned over to the 
French, Jones still hoped that it might be commissioned 
in the American service, and that he might receive the 



190 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

command. He continued in this hope through the summer 
of 1778. The Ranker was sent home under Lieutenant Simp- 
son. Jones's trials were numerous. In February, 1779, 
however, he succeeded in obtaining a ship, the Due de Duras, 
which he rechristened Le Bon Homme Richard^ in memory of 
*' Poor Richard." He thought he owed the command to the 
saying, " If you would have your business done, go yourself. 
If not, send." The vessel belonged to the King of France, 
but the crew was made up of Englishmen. An expedition 
was planned for descent on the English coast, and four other 
vessels were placed under him : the American frigate, the 
Alliance^ and the French vessels, the Pallas^ the Vengeance^ 
and the Cerf. It was proposed that Lafayette should accom- 
pany the expedition with a land force, but this part of the 
plan was given up. The expedition set sail the 14th of Au- 
gust. They cruised for some time with indifferent fortune 
till the 23d of September, when they came across the Baltic 
fleet off Scarborough, under convoy of the Serapis, of forty- 
four guns, and the Countess of Scarborough^ of twenty-two. 
Jones at once engaged the Serapis^ signalling to the Alliance 
to come to his assistance. The Pallas engaged the Countess 
of Scarborough. The other vessels of the squadron were not 
in sight. The fight between the Bon Homme Richard and the 
Serapis was hardly contested. The Serapis finally surrendered, 
but the Bon Homme Richard was so battered that she sunk 
two days afterward. The Alliance, under Captain Laudais, 
behaved in a most singular manner during the engagement. 
Laudais was accused of firing into the Bon Homme Richard 
instead of the Serapis. He proved to be insane, and made 
much trouble for Franklin at Paris. 

The news of the victory over the Serapis was received with 
great delight in America and in France. Jones, who came 
shortly to Paris, was made a lion, and received great attention 
from the court and the people. 



FRANKLIN IN FRANCE. I9I 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The French Alliance. 

Franklin Arrives in France — Silas Deane's Early Negotiations— The Treaty 
of Alliance— D'Estaing's Fleet — Large Combinations — Army Under 
Rochambeau — It Arrives at Rhode Island — The Campaign in Carolina 
— Lord Cornwallis— Gates's Defeat at Camden — His Flight — Events 
at the North — Arnold's Treason — Campaign of 1781 — Cornwallis Ad- 
vances to Virginia — Death of Phillips — Lafayette in Command — Clin- 
ton Recalls Cornwallis — The Combination Against Him — De Grasse's 
Fleet — Washington Deceives Clinton — He Moves from New York — A 
Day at Mount Vernon — Siege of Yoiktown — Cornwallis Besieged — He 
Surrenders — Greene's Campaign of 1781 — The News of Yorktown Re- 
ceived in Europe — Lord North — "All Is Over." 

THE American cause had been popular in France ever 
since the war began. The national hatred of England 
contributed to a liking for her enemy, and the very severe terms, 
which England had exacted in the peace of 1763, still rankled 
in the minds of French statesmen and soldiers. The new phi- 
losophy of human nature which was coming into fashion had 
its part in bringing about a national enthusiasm for the insur- 
gents. When, at the end of 1776, Franklin arrived in France, 
he was welcomed with enthusiasm. His portrait was seen 
every- where. Poor Richard's Maxims were translated into 
French, and Franklin's society was widely sought. He availed 
himself of his popularity to obtain such private and public 
help for his countrymen as was possible. 

Silas Deane, who preceded hiin, had set on foot a secret 
negotiation which resulted in a gift of two million livres — about 
four hundred thousand dollars — privately paid from the royal 
treasury to the treasury of Congress. A second arrangement 
was made, by which the farmers general of the kingdom, who 
had the monopoly of the tobacco trade, were to receive from 



192 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Congress a quantity of tobacco and to pay for it in military 
stores. But through the year 1777 all such negotiations and 
promises were made with the greatest secrecy, as France was, 
in public, maintaining her neutrality. She even affected to 
exclude the American cruisers from her ports, excepting as 
she had to give them her hospitality when they were in abso- 
lute need of shelter for repairs. 

As has been already said, however, the news of the capitu- 
lation of Burgoyne turned the scale. Franklin and his asso- 
ciates were at once told that the government was ready to recog- 
nize American independence, to receive them as envoys, and 
to negotiate a treaty. Spain, which was closely allied with 
France, made similar intimations. The first result of the 
treaty was the welcome to French ports of American prizes; the 
second was the equipment of the fleet under D'Estaing, of 
which the history of one year's cruise has been told. 

As the year 1779 came to a close the American envoys 
begged for more extensive assistance, and ventured to show 
how it might end the war. 

They had the invaluable help of Lafayette, who was 
popular at court, very popular in America, and who had crossed 
to France to do what he could in this cause. His enthusiasm 
and Franklin's steady wisdom overcame all delays, and the 
Count De Rochambeau, an officer of high rank, was ordered to 
America in command of nearly six thousand picked men. 
They were conveyed in a fleet under Admiral Ternay, and a 
second fleet was to follow them. 

This superb expedition sailed in April. The seamanship 
of those days was not as prompt as that of to-day, and it was 
not until the loth of July that the fleet arrived off the bay 
of Rhode Island, the men already sick with scurvy and 
the fleet in poor condition for battle. Lafayette had preceded 
them. He had agreed that if Newport were free from an 
English fleet there should be a white flag displayed on each 
of the headlands of Narragansett Bay. As the fog lifted which 
for a time shrouded the coast the French Admiral saw, to his 
delight, the promised signals, and at once entered the harbor 



AMERICAN REVERSES. 1 93 

of Newport. He landed his men, who were welcomed by the 
Americans. He established barracks for them at Newport 
and Providence, and opened his communication with General 
Washington. 

Washington had refrained from any active operations until 
his allies should arrive. Clinton was glad enough to be un- 
molested. Indeed, there had already begun a difference of 
opinion as to the English plan of campaign, which the next 
year resulted in ruin. Of all the English officers who held 
high command in America, Lord Cornwallis, afterward gover- 
nor of India, showed most spirit and military genius. He 
had had the advantage of training in the military schools of 
the continent of Europe. He distinguished himself at Brook- 
lyn and at the Brandywine, and, when he afterward returned 
to England to propose his plans, he was listened to, much as 
Burgoyne had been when he came on a not dissimilar errand. 

Cornwallis was a favorite with Lord George Germaine, who 
was master of colonial affairs, and thus played well the part of 
evil genius of England. Cornwallis succeeded in obtaining 
what was virtually an independent command, as he construed 
his instructions. He was to push the English successes at 
the south. True, he was nominally subordinate to Sir Henry 
Clinton at New York, but he was permitted to communicate 
directly with London, and in his use of this permission he 
eventually entangled Clinton and compelled him to play a 
part second to his own. 

The fall of Charleston, on the 12th of April, was the first 
signal of the success of the new plans of the English. The 
news arrived in France soon after Rochambeau sailed. " It 
is impossible to do anything," wrote Marie Antoinette to her 
mother, "when the American troops are such cowards." Lin- 
coln, who commanded at Charleston, was obliged to surren- 
der, and his garrison became prisoners of war. 

Gates was appointed to succeed him, and hurried to take 
the independent command for which he had hungered since 
his great success at Saratoga and after the failure of the Con- 
way cabal. Cornwallis had a well-equipped army of five thou- 
9 



194 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



sand men. Of the Continental army, Lincoln had surrendered 
almost all the southern contingent in the fall of Charleston. 
Washington detached with Gates more than two thousand 
men from his own force. A regiment of artillery was added 
at Petersburg. Virginia ordered twenty-five hundred addi- 
tional soldiers, and the small force of three hundred men at 
Williamsburg joined the army which was to meet Cornwallis. 
Gates, eager to meet his enemy, marched them in midsummer 
toward Camden, in South Carolina, where Lord Rawdon com- 
manded a consider- 
able English force. 
Cornwallis heard of 
his approach, 
strengthened and 
joined Rawdon, and 
awaited the Ameri- 
can army. On the 
14th of August Gates 
approached Camden. 
He seems to have sup- 
posed himself at the 
head of seven thou- 
sand men. On that 
day he detached four 
hundred with Sump- 
ter, a spirited south- 
ern partisan, who had 
four hundred more 
men. But, in fact. Gates had but three thousand and fifty-two 
men ready for duty. 

With these he attacked the English lines by a night attack, 
which did not succeed. The next day he renewed the attack, 
beginning with a body of raw Virginia and North Carolina 
militia, who broke and fled, bearing Gates with them. From 
this moment he held no command. The remainder of the 
army, consisting largely of the Maryland and Delau^are Con- 
tinentals under De Kalb, maintained its ground for a long 




ARREST OF ANDRE. I95 

time, and even drove back Rawdon's division. But in Gates's 
flight the battle was really lost. 

The English force was severely reduced by the loss of five 
hundred of their men. The Continental loss was quite as 
heavy, and the discouragement of defeat and flight was added. 
De Kalb lived but three days. Nearly one-half of his divis- 
ion were killed or wounded. Soon after, Sumpter, who had 
the largest force of Americans left in Carolina, was surprised 
by Tarleton, who took two or three hundred of his party 
prisoners. Thus disastrous was the summer of 1780 to the 
American prospects in the Carolinas. 

At the north it had soon been determined that, while 
Washington held the passes of the Hudson and watched the 
English in New York, the combined forces should not make 
any attempt at present. Extreme poverty was one reason for 
this inaction. The second French fleet, which, with Ternay's 
fleet, would outnumber the English, was expected. Until 
its arrival no combined effort was thought advisable. The 
English government, however, had succeeded in blockading 
it at Toulon. It never joined Ternay, and as a result of this 
prompt action in Europe the joint American campaign was 
deferred for another year. 

As Washington returned to his army from an interview 
with Rochambeau at Hartford, in Connecticut, his unexpected 
arrival at West Point discovered the saddest treason of the 
war — the plot by which General Arnold, who commanded at 
West Point, proposed to deliver it to Clinton. From that 
time the name of Arnold has been hated by his countrymen. 
It may be doubted whether any American child has received 
the name of "Benedict" — which was his name — since this 
treason was discovered. Washington's party arrived at Ar- 
nold's quarters at breakfast, he himself having been delayed 
while he inspected some works. As they breakfasted Arnold 
received a note, which told him that Andre, the adjutant- 
general of the English army, with whom he had been in trea- 
sonable conversation only two days before, had been arrested, 
and was then in the hands of one of his officers. Arnold had 



196 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

not a moment to lose. He ordered liis barge, and by flutter- 
ing a flag of truce was received on the English frigate Vul- 
ture, which lay below his lines. Washington arrived just too 
late to intercept his flight. 

Andre was tried by court-martial and was justly sentenced 
to be hanged as a spy. His talent for war and for literature 
has awakened sympathy for him wherever his story has been 
known. But civilized war is impossible if such offenses as 
his are not to be expiated ; and a close study of his negotia- 
tions with Arnold and his correspondence afterward does not 
leave to him the character either of a martyr or a hero — or 
even a gentleman. 

"Whom can we trust now.?" said Washington, sadly; for he 
had, it might be said, singled out Arnold for preferment, by 
way of recompensing him for affronts he had received from 
Congress. He sent to Newport and recalled Heath, who had 
been sent there to confer with Rochambeau, and he put the 
fortress in Heath's charge. 

Cornwallis, meanwhile, had had the tact and skill to put his 
army into light marching order. He had caught the lesson of 
the long distances of America, as the American commanders 
had learned it generations before. Cornwallis, with the En- 
glish officers, and, on the other side, the French officers of 
Rochambeau's contingent, introduced into European warfare 
the new tactics of light infantry. And, in this generation, 
these words are almost the only memorial to military men that 
there ever was a " Heavy Infantry" in the military establish- 
ments. Banastre Tarleton, a spirited cavalry officer, who did 
not escape the reputation of cruelty, was Cornwallis's second. 
As the English army gained ground he stripped the stables 
of the southern planters, so that it was literally true, as Corn- 
wallis said in one of his letters, that he went about stealing 
tobacco with an army on race-horses. 

After he had crushed Gates the way to Virginia seemed 
tempting, and was open. He was himself convinced that the 
true policy for the English was to abandon New York and 
make a strong position in Virginia. Without giving Sir Henry 



LAFAYETTE IN VIRGINIA. I97 

Clinton any fair notion of his plan, and acting merely under 
his general instructions from England, he determined on 
what he called " solid operations in Virginia," taking it for 
granted that if he established a foot-hold in that State Clin- 
ton would meet him there, or would largely re-enforce him. 
Leaving the American army under Greene on his left, he 
pushed for Norfolk and effected a junction, as he had pro- 
posed, with the corps under Phillips and Arnold, which had 
just landed there for a raid. Phillips died just at this time, 
on the 13th of May, at Petersburg. As he lay dying a shot 
from one of Lafayette's cannon passed through the house. 
"Can I not die in peace ? " he said. It was a matter of curious 
interest to Lafayette that his father had died from a shot 
directed by a battery under the command of Phillips, at the 
battle of Minden. 

Cornwallis assumed the command of the united English 
force, which was now much larger than the Americans could 
collect. Arnold did not remain with him personally, but 
retired to New York. Cornwallis crossed the James River, 
near the junction with the Appomatox, and sought to engage 
Lafayette. Lafayette was on his first considerable independent 
command. He had replaced Steuben, whose more slow or 
solid ways had dissatisfied the Virginians. But Lafayette al- 
ways made himself popular, and he had brought with him a 
body of light troops who were the flower of the army. He 
showed great intelligence and spirit. He gave Cornwallis no 
opportunity to engage him, but did what he could, with so 
small a force, to encourage the country and to assist the 
planters in removing horses and other property before the 
spoilers came. It was of this summer campaign that Corn- 
wallis wrote home that he marched up and down stealing 
tobacco. 

Meanwhile he was eagerly awaiting Clinton's arrival, with 
the prospect it gave for what he called " solid operations " in 
Virginia. He seems to have even hoped that Clinton would 
march in force from New York across the country, though such 
a march must have been made either in face of Washington 



198 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and Rochambeau, or pursued by them. Sir Henry Clinton 
was, naturally enough, offended by such high-handed insub- 
ordination. He would lend himself to no such scheme. And 
at Hanover Court House, about thirty miles north of James 
River, Cornwallis received Clinton's positive orders not to 
risk a march across Pennsylvania, nor to expect him to make 
such a march, but to establish a post on th-e lower Chesa- 
peake and await orders. Offended and hurt, Cornwallis 
obeyed these orders and retired before Lafayette to York 
River. 

Lafayette's force was inferior, but he pushed Cornwallis, 
where he could, with spirit and courage. He wrote to Wash- 
ington that if he could join him with a re-enforcement, and if 
a French fleet could blockade the Chesapeake, every thing 
might be hoped. Washington needed no such quickening. 
He had written the most urgent personal letter to whoever 
might be in command of that fleet in the West Indies. For- 
tunately the letter reached De Grasse in time, and he at once 
obeyed the summons. The great game of war has seldom 
seen the union of the important pieces take place with more 
precision. Cornwallis reached Yorktown and began to fortify 
himself on the 8th of August. Lafayette followed him closely. 
The French fleet arrived in the Chesapeake and hemmed in 
Cornwallis and the English vessels there. Cornwallis wrote 
to Clinton some letters which were intercepted, and others 
which went through. In all of them he fixed a period, not 
far distant, as the latest to which he could hold the post if he 
were not relieved. Washington saw, to his joy, that the great 
combination was now possible for which he had so earnestly 
hoped when he wrote to the French admiral. 

The army of Rochambeau had recovered from the voyage 
which had so disabled it, and had been moved from Narra- 
gansett Bay to the Hudson River. Strong reconnoissances 
threatening New York, so strong sometimes as to bring on 
skirmishes, had been made, which had kept the English gar- 
rison and that of outlying posts on the alert. Really intend- 
ing to push his way into New York with the strong com- 



CORNWALLIS IN YORKTOWN. I99 

bined force under his command, if any opportunity offered, 
it was easy for Washington to give Clinton the fear that 
measures were in progress for such an attack. In truth, he 
was threatening the city all through the summer. When, on 
the 19th of August, he received news that Cornwallis had 
taken position at York River, he was able to deceive Clinton 
for many days as to his purposes in that direction. 

A large French and American contingent was rapidly moved 
southward on the roads back from observation, while close 
observation was maintained on the city. Washington him- 
self and his army had crossed the Delaware before Clinton 
knew that he had at all re-enforced Lafayette. Washington, 
with his staff, traveled a little in advance of the French 
commander. When he arrived at Chester he met with the 
great news that the French fleet under the Count de Grasse 
had arrived in the lower Chesapeake. He returned on 
his road that he might tell this himself to Rochambeau. 
Rochambeau saw him waving his hat and showing the great- 
est delight. " A child who has just received every thing he 
longs for would not have felt more enthusiasm. He was 
content for the moment to be a citizen, happy in the good 
fortune of his country." Such are the words of a French 
officer who witnessed the scene. 

Fifteen hundred men were carried down Chesapeake Bay 
in boats to the mouth of the James River. The rest went 
to Annapolis by the aid of the French frigates, and then 
marched overland. Washington himself on this journey 
made his first visit to Mount Vernon since the war began. 
It was more than six years since he had seen his princely 
home. He was able to entertain the French general and his 
staff with the hasty hospitality of a single day. He and 
Rochambeau had ridden sixty miles in the saddle in one day. 
He then resumed the critical march with his friends, and by 
the same roads on which he had ridden every year for fifteen 
years, when he served in the Virginia Assembly, he took them 
to Williamsburg to the command of his and their armies. 

Lafayette had already welcomed Saint-Simon, who was 



200 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

in charge of the first French contingent. On the arrival of 
a force utterly superior to his own Cornwallis risked noth- 
ing more in the field but withdrew behind the fortifications 
which he had built to defend Yorktown. The American and 
French generals immediately examined the ground and laid 
out the works by which it might be regularly approached. 
The American army, thus far trained to what have been called 
skirmishes on a large scale, was to see the progress of a reg- 
ular siege, conducted with all the system of scientific and 
technical war. 

The allied army surrounded the town on the 30th of Septem- 
ber. The French held the right of the besiegers' position, the 
Americans the left. Cornwallis availed himself of every oppor- 
tunity of annoying the men at work, but fire was not opened 
on him till the 9th of October. For four days the fire was 
incessant; his batteries were, one by one, made useless and 
his cannon dismounted. On the 15th he wrote to Clinton 
that he could not recommend any great risk to army or fleet 
in coming to his relief. On the night of the i6th he 
attempted to cross the York River, hoping to surprise the 
French force at Gloucester, on the north side, and escape 
into the upper country of Virginia. But a violent storm 
deranged the crossing and made it impossible. This failure 
compelled him to offer surrender on the 17th. The terms of 
capitulation were agreed upon on the 19th, and the whole 
army surrendered as prisoners of war. 

Cornwallis had left the Carolinas for " solid operations in 
Virginia " almost as if indifferent to Greene, who was opposed 
to him. Greene wisely left him to his fate in Virginia while 
he attempted the recovery of the posts held by the English 
at the south. In this endeavor he spent the spring and 
summer of 1781. "We fight, get beaten, and fight again," he 
said. His defeats differed from Gates's, at Camden, in this: 
that he did not himself run away after them. When Corn- 
wallis moved north,* he left Greene on his left. Charles 

* The movement has been compared in later times to Sherman's advance into Georgia 
in 1865, leaving Hood behind him in Tennessee. 



SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS. 201 

James Fox said rightly, in Parliament, that if the English 
army had been vanquished it would have retired to the sea 
exactly as it did after a victory. Thj English still held gar- 
risons at Augusta, in Georgia; at Camden, in South Carolina; 
and at the post called Ninety-six, about forty miles north 
of Augusta, on the Saluda River. When Greene was 
encamped at Hobkirk's Hill, not far from the old battle 
ground of Camden, he was attacked by Lord Rawdon. 
Each party lost about three hundred men, and Greene was 
forced to retreat General Marion, however, with a re-en- 
forcement from Greene's army, took the English fort on the 
Santee, below Camden, and that post was, in consequence, 
abandoned by Rawdon. Marion followed up his success 
and attacked and took Fort Granby with three hundred and 
fifty men. Lord Rawdon was thus compelled to withdraw to 
Charleston, leaving garrisons at Ninety-six and at Augusta. 
Greene besieged Ninety-six; but Rawdon, re-enforced, 
marched to its relief, and Greene, after an unsuccessful 
attempt to storm the place, was obliged to withdraw. Raw- 
don could not, however, hold a post so far from his base. 
He withdrew the garrison and their loyalist friends. He 
himself soon after sailed for England. He was captured by 
a French frigate, and thus had an opportunity of seeing the 
surrender at Yorktown of his old chief, Cornwallis. 

Greene, after recruiting his army, attacked the English 
again at Eutaw, on the 8th of September, and this time suc- 
cessfully. They broke and fled before him. But in their 
retreat a party of them held as a fortress a large brick house, 
where they covered the flight of their friends. In the effort to 
drive them from this fastness, Greene lost a large number 
of men, among them Colonel Washington, the spirited cav- 
alry officer who had on the American side rivaled the feats 
of the English Tarleton. The American loss in this hard- 
fought battle was five hundred and fifty-four. The English 
lost more than a thousand men. The result of the battle was 
that the remainder of the English army was withdrawn into 
Charleston. Whether beaten or defeated Greene always 
9* 



202 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

attained his object. And when Cornwallis surrendered at 
Yorktown, Charleston was the only post in South Carolina 
held by his enemy. 

Cornwallis had tried to notify Clinton that his case was hope- 
less, but Clinton did not fail his insubordinate general when 
the issue came. He sent him message after message to as- 
sure him of his support. Hardest task of all, he drove up 
the English admirals to all possible speed in preparing a 
naval force which might possibly open the way into the 
Chesapeake. He embarked five thousand men, going with 
them himself. On board the fleet, as an officer of the 
navy, they had William, afterward King of England, the 
third son of George HI. In this "untoward" begin- 
ning he was to take his first lesson in the trade of " king- 
craft." When, at last, the admiral would put to sea, they 
sailed; but they were too late. Off Cape Charles they met 
the news of the surrender, and Clinton returned to New 
York. 

The French admiral at once fitted out a fast frigate to 
take the joyful news to France. She had a quick run, and 
on the 20th of November it was announced in Paris, and 
from Paris in every part of Europe. It came from Paris to 
London on the 24th. " How did Lord North take it ? " 
This was the question which some one put to Lord George 
Germaine. "As he would have taken a cannon ball in his 
heart," said Lord George. " He threw up his hands and 
cried ' All is over.' " 

All was over; though at the time all men did not under- 
stand this. Conway introduced in Parliament a resolution, 
which passed by a majority of nineteen, that they who 
advised a continuation of war with America were enemies of 
their country. Lord North and his cabinet resigned. Lord 
George Germaine had been sacrificed before — the evil genius 
of George HI and of England. Lord Shelburne came into 
power at the head of the new ministry. He was an old 
friend of Franklin's, and through their mutual friends they 
had kept up some communication after Franklin went to 



ARNOLD AT NEW LONDON. 203 

France. With Franklin he entered into personal correspond- 
ence at once, and the negotiation of a treaty began on the 
basis of the acknowledgment of the independence of the 
Uiiited States. 

As a miserable offset to the great success by which the 
war was really ended, Sir Henry Clinton was able to send 
home the account of a marauding expedition on the coast of 
Connecticut. If any thing could add to Arnold's disgrace 
it was his willingness to take command of an enterprise which 
aimed at his old home in New London. He even made use 
of his local knowledge of the place to direct the troops 
which were sent to destroy it. It is said that Cornwallis 
refused to have him under his command in Virginia, and 
that he returned from the Virginia expedition of the spring 
because Cornwallis compelled him to do so. This was in 
May. At the beginning of September he was put in com- 
mand of seventeen hundred men, for an expedition against 
Connecticut. It has been suggested, and is perhaps prob- 
able, that Clinton thought that such an expedition might recall 
Washington from his march, which was already begun. 
Arnold landed at the mouth of the Thames River, where it 
flows into Long Island Sound, on the 6th of September. He 
divided his force into two columns, and one column marched 
up each side of the river. Arnold commanded that on the 
west side. No efficient resistance was made to him and he 
took and burned the town of New London. On the eastern 
side the militia of the immediate neighborhood had gath- 
ered, but had not nearly force enough even to man the 
parapets of Fort Griswold, an earthwork which had been 
erected for defense. Mad with liquor, the assailants, num- 
bering nearly seven hundred men, poured over the earth- 
works, and, as resistance was useless, Ledyard, the American 
commander, ordered his men to throw down their aims. He 
surrendered to Major Bromfield, the English commanding 
officer, after Eyre, the colonel, had been wounded. The 
officer at once stabbed him with his own sword, and this 
seems to have been the signal for a massacre of the whole of 



204 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the garrison. Eighty-seven were killed and thirty were 
wounded. Of these only three had been killed before Led- 
yard gave the order to surrender. 

Arnold said that the burning of the town was an accident. 
As has been remarked, however, it was a consistent accident; 
for Groton, on the other side of the river, was burned also. 
After this success he withdrew with his force to New 
York. 



FINANCIAL PROBLEMS. 205 



CHAPTER XXII. 

End of the War. 

Undecided Positiori of the Country — AVeakness of the Confederation — Con- 
dition and Defects of Congress — Articles of Confederation — The 
Finances of the Confederacy — Paper Money — The Word " Con- 
tinental " — First and Second Issues of Bills — Virtually a Tax on the 
User — Issues in 1779 — The Currency Loses All Value — Injustice to 
the Soldiers — Their Dissatisfaction — The Nevvburg Letters — Washing- 
ton's Reply to Them — End of the Crisis — The English Evacuate New 
York — Washington Resigns his Commission. 

THE United States, after their victory, were in a disagree- 
able position. They were not at peace. They were 
not at war. Clinton would not send word to Washington 
that he might send his army home. Washington did not dare 
say to the King of France that he might call his soldiers 
home. On the other hand, the different States were very 
unwilling to send their regiments to a distance to a war which 
was never to be fought. The people were slow about paying 
taxes, as if the war was ended. Yet commerce was interrupted. 
Prizes were taken at sea. The fisheries were no more open 
to American crews than they had been in the severest mo- 
ments of the war. 

It was thus that some of the severest strains of the whole 
contest came in those years of half peace. The weakness of 
the Confederation became more apparent, as it was no longer 
concealed behind the smoke and the success of battle. In 
truth, its power had never been any thing but the reflex of an 
excited and unanimous public opinion. When there was no 
active enemy's army as the object for opposition the excite- 
ment which had quickened unanimity died. Each State fell 
back to the not easy problem of improving its now shattered 
fortunes. 



2o6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The Congress itself was surprised, in the beginning, when 
it became an executive body. It had not been chosen for 
any such purpose. Never was success more marvelous than 
it had gained — considering its utter inability, in theory, for 
the task it had in hand. 

Forty or fifty gentlemen, mostly strangers to each other, 
and with no common system of law or administration behind 
them, had been chosen to unite in fit remonstrances to a king to 
whom they all owed allegiance. These gentlemen found them- 
selves of a sudden making war against him, declaring the inde- 
pendence of the nation, and, though with no authority directly 
given by that nation, raising an army and a navy, commission- 
ing officers, sending out envoys and making alliances with other 
nations. Never was a more complete illustration of the way 
in which a government is made because there must be a gov- 
ernment. After two or three years, because the Congress 
saw that on paper it had no power, by gradual approach and 
after difficult and critical negotiation the "Articles of Con- 
j , federation," as they are called, were agreed upon. 

5^ It may be fairly said that they did more harm than good. 
They were framed on the theory which should leave every 
State virtually independent. While Congress could vote that 
each State should supply this and that necessary contingent 
for the national service, Congress had no power to carry out 
its vote or to enforce any demand. The original Congress 
had borrowed money, first in small sums, and had pledged 
the honor of the nation in payment. Really, under the Arti- 
cles of the Confederation the Congress could pledge noth- 
ing more. It has been truly said that it could not command 
the money to buy the quills which made the pens with which 
its laws were written. 

On March i, 1781, after long delays, the Articles of Con- 
federation nominally went into effect. The public creditors, 
especially the soldiers of the army, imagined, perhaps, that 
they now had a real authority to deal with instead of the 
shadow of a name ; but in fact Congress had almost no 
treasury and could command no money. -^ 



CONTINENTAL CURRENCY. 20/ 

Its financial resources up to this time had been of two 
forms, both resting on the fascinating but unsubstantial basis 
of debt. Beginning with an innocent little loan of $25,000, 
Congress had borrowed more and more wherever it could find 
a lender. Franklin, John Adams and the commissioners in 
Europe had steadily kept before the knowledge of Europe 
an understanding of the great wealth of America, especially 
of the value of its public lands. From the beginning the 
interest on the foreign loans was generally well paid. As 
soon as Robert Morris directed the treasury its accounts were 
carefully kept. 

At home, where large sums of money were not ready for 
borrowing. Congress also borrowed, unintentionally, by the 
system of paper money. So soon as the movements of armies 
brought the colonies into closer relations with each other, 
while the downfall of legitimate commerce withdrew gold and 
silver from its operations, there was real need of a convenient 
circulating medium. Congress issued its own currency, which 
took the name, which it has since retained, of the " Continental 
Currency." It is a pity that the most frequent use at the 
present time of the word *' Continental " should be its famil- 
iar use as the name of a piece of worthless paper money. 
In the beginning it was not so. " Continental " then stood 
for all things national — the army, the foreign treaties, the uni- 
form of the troops — and, therefore, it was the name of the 
national currency. 

After more than a century the people of the United States, 
with a vast territorial extension, supporting a population not 
more dense than that of the sea-board in the Revolution, with 
enormous demands for trade not then known, keeps in cir- 
culation for its convenience about eight hundred millions of 
paper money; nearly fifteen dollars for each individual. The 
people can have gold or silver for this money, but it prefers 
to use this amount of paper. It is not, then, surprising that 
in 1775, when the first issue of Continental paper began, the 
country with a population of three millions easily floated a 
million dollars, and afterward a second million, without any per- 



208 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ceptible depreciation. In the midst of other changes, with 
the help of strong patriotic excitement, the sum of $2,000,000 
was so convenient an addition to the commercial resources 
of a nation which had every thing to do that the paper main- 
tained a value even with that of silver. 

Here is a temptation such as statesmen have not always 
met well, and which monarchs less pressed than the "Con- 
tinental Congress " have not resisted. When, in another 
year. Congress needed more money, it was convenient to rely 
on the printing-press, " its unsubsidized ally," to furnish it. 
New issues were ordered. Of course, as more money was 
made than commerce really needed, the price of money fell. 
What was worse, the English government issued counterfeits 
of it, and it was found necessary to recall the issue and sub- 
stitute notes of another pattern. The whole issue, old and 
new, was worth no more than the old issue was worth be- 
fore the new was added. 

But what was important to Congress was that they and 
their treasurer and their paymasters held the new issue till 
they had paid it out. The losers were not the people who 
made the money, but the people who had taken it. A man 
found on the 1st of June that the dollar which had been worth 
six shillings on the ist of May, was only worth five shillings. 
He was the loser, but Congress lost nothing. 

Virtually this man, without meaning it, or even knowing it, 
paid a tax of one shilling to Congress as that month of May 
passed. Congress was richer and he was poorer by that sum. 

Repeating this process. Congress continued issuing paper 
money, always promising to pay " hard dollars," until before 
the end of 1779 it had issued two hundred millions in paper. 
At this time one hundred paper dollars were worth only two 
and a half dollars in silver. It is interesting to observe that 
the circulation which the country needed was about five 
million dollars, or one and a half dollars for each inhabitant. 
The process could be carried no farther. It was fatal to hon- 
est trade. Men paid debts by giving half or one quarter of 
what they had borrowed. It was demoralizing ; for the na- 



DEPRECIATED CURRENCY. ' 209 

tion declared, on every bill, that it would do what it was 
wholly impossible for it to do. Necessity, after the very first, 
was the only excuse; but as Congress had no power to tax 
men it had the tyrant's plea of necessity when, in this in- 
direct way, it raised for the national defense a very consider- 
able sum by what was virtually a tax, though hardly supposed 1 
to be so. j 

The goose was at last killed which laid the golden egg. 
The last issues of the Continental currency now exist in the 
large sheets in which they were printed. It was not even 
worth the while of the man who received the sheet from the 
treasury to cut it into separate bills. It was one large bill to 
circulate for what it would bring. Before the year 1782 a 
specie currency was largely in use, with some paper circulated 
by the States and of use in the payment of State taxes. The 
payment of gold by the French commissaries for the sup- 
plies they required gave some assistance in furnishing a cur- 
rency, and every suucessful adventure by a privateer, or 
every shipment of tobacco to Europe which slipped through 
the enemy's cruisers, relieved, by so much, the drain on the 
country for specie, which began, of course, when the natural 
currents of trade were disturbed by the war. 

In no quarter was the depreciation of the currency, whether 
of the nation or of a State, more disastrous than with the 
soldiers of the army. These men were now enlisted for three 
years, or to the end of the war. They were not largely paid, 
though some of them had received considerable bounties at 
the beginning. To be paid year by year in a currency which, 
as all men knew, was losing in value every day, was an insult. 
But in most instances the treasurers of the States, or the 
treasury of Congress, had nothing better than such paper to 
offer. 

With the beginning of the summer of 1783 it was certain 
that no military measures of an aggressive character would 
be attempted. The Continental army was reduced to the 
lowest scale, and for that year the country had in service only 
13,456 men. The largest Continental force ever upon the rolls 



2IO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

was 46,891, in 1776. In that year 42,000 militia were called 
out also. The army held, in 1783, the garrisons which had 
been established. Its principal force was still above New 
York, If it were ever to make a claim for reasonable justice 
upon the Congress whom it had so faithfully served now was 
the time. It is clear enough that, in the enforced leisure of 
such a summer, there would be constant difficulties among the 
officers and men as to what Congress had done, might do, 
ought to do, and might be made to do. 

Such discussions reached a crisis and found expression 
which attracted public notice in some letters circulated 
among the officers, which were at the time anonymous. But 
little secrecy, however, was kept regarding them, and per- 
haps little was intended. General Armstrong, an aid of Gen- 
eral Gates, afterward readily acknowledged the authorship of 
the most important. They were well written, and expressed 
with little or no exaggeration the history of the treatment 
which the army had received from Congress. Indeed, it 
would be hard to express this too severely if the truth were 
told. The overt act which the " Newburg Letters," as they 
were called, suggested, was that the army should refuse to 
disband unless its rightful dues were paid. Congress was to 
be notified that this army continued to exist, and could con- 
tinue to exist, with arms in its hands. It had the power until 
it disbanded. Let it refuse to disband and it could obtain 
its due. Such was the writer's proposal. He suggested a 
meeting on the nth of March. 

There is much in the Newburg letters which appeals to 
the sense of justice. It is easy to understand that this should 
appeal very loudly to men who felt that they had been disre- 
garded and annoyed. 

This was the moment when, if the army acted on the les- 
son taught by its insults and wrongs, it would take for new- 
born America the position which Cromwell's army took for 
England, and its leader, whoever he might be, would be the 
General Monk who should determine on the next dynasty. 
To take a name from ancient history, the leader of this army 



RETIREMENT OF WASHINGTON. 211 

might make himself a Caesar. To take it from modern his- 
tory, he might make himself a Napoleon. 

And the man was there ; but his name was not Cromwell, 
Monk, Csesar or Napoleon. His name was Washington. 

So soon as the first of the Newburg letters was issued 
Washington referred to it in general orders, in terms which 
seemed strong enough for the emergency. He certainly did 
not mean to exaggerate its importance. He asked the repre- 
sentatives of the army to meet him on the 15th of the month 
instead of holding a meeting on the nth, as had been pro- 
posed. Armstrong and his friends, however, seized on the 
moderation of these terms to affect the impression in a sec- 
ond letter that he was on their side. If he had meant more 
he would have said more, they say with sufficient ingenuity. 
In this last letter they assented to his proposal for a meeting, 
and their meeting was abandoned. 

When the meeting took place Washington opened it him- 
self in a spirited speech. He asked if the anonymous writer 
of the letters was not an emissary from New York, attempt- 
ing the ruin of the country. He urged patience, begged the 
officers to rely on the justice of Congress and to give one 
more proof of patriotism and virtue. He pledged his own 
exertions in their behalf, and then retired. Gates took the 
chair. If, as is likely enough, he had countenanced the 
anonymous letters, he had the gratification of putting to the 
vote of the meeting the resolutions which passed. They 
stated the grievances of the army, but rejected with disdain 
the proposal of the letters and avowed the confidence of the 
officers in Congress. The crisis was over, A committee 
was appointed to wait upon Congress with a fit statement of 
grievances. But these grievances were not formulated as 
demands. The crisis was over. 

This great service was the last which Washington rendered 
to his country as commander-in-chief. He was now to lay 
down the charge which he had so willingly taken on the 17th 
of June, more than eight years before. The ratification of the 
treaty was at last completed in Europe. A courteous note 



212 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

from Sir Guy Carleton, the English commander, notified 
Washington that the English garrison would be withdrawn 
from New York on the 25th of November. As post after 
post of English soldiers was withdrawn successively, an ad- 
vance party of Americans took their places. Washington 
sent to Carleton a courteous note to wish him and his a 
pleasant passage, and thus closed the correspondence with 
the enemy, which had begun when he proposed an exchange 
of prisoners with Gage, and Gage had written an impertinent 
letter back to him, refusing to communicate with traitors. In 
the interval the chief command of the English army had 
changed three times. The American army had had but one 
chief commander. 

A few days after the American troops had taken possession 
of New York Washington himself bade farewell to the 
officers and army in an affecting parting and began his jour- 
ney to his home. It was a triumphal march. The country 
was eager to express its joy for peace and independence, and 
found this a fit occasion. 

As he entered a town or city the chief magistrates met 
him with an address of thanks and welcome. Such scientific 
or literary societies as existed, and the representatives of 
religious bodies or of colleges, joined in the general expres- 
sion of gratitude. These addresses had more than a pass- 
ing interest. They show how the national feeling had ex- 
tended, since the time, hardly ten years before, when the 
divided colonies first sent their delegates to a national Con- 
gress. Washington acknowledged their addresses with mod- 
esty and dignity. Copies of them, preserved by his care, are 
now in the Department of State. 

The Continental Congress, from whose predecessors Wash- 
ington had received his commission, was sitting at Annapolis, 
the capital of Maryland. As this body, which had created 
an army and a navy, ceased to have such large visible duties, 
it sank every day more and more in the contempt of the peo- 
ple at large. It became migratory, and had left Philadelphia 
on the occasion of some turbulent political public demonstra- 



WASHINGTON RESIGNS. 213 

tions. To Washington, Annapolis was almost home. In his 
earlier days it had been his custom to go there with his wife 
every year from Mount Vernon, which is not far away, to join 
in the gayeties which accompanied the annual meeting of 
the Assembly. Here, in the Assembly chamber, Congress 
met to receive his commission back from the hands which had 
held It so triumphantly. He had assumed it with the expres- 
sion of his full knowledge that he was incompetent for the 
charge to which it appointed him. He resigned it with 
cordial thanks to the brave and steadfast men who had given 
him success in his charge, and with gratitude to the Prov- 
idence which from such slight beginnings had created a 
nation. 

It will be necessary in the next chapter to follow the his- 
tory of the great region to the west. The first steps of that 
history had been taken while the sea-board colonies were 
engaged in war. 



DANIEL BOONE. 21 5 

All this country in the valley of the Mississippi had, by 
the Peace of Paris, fallen into the hands of the English. But 
it was not the policy of England to colonize it. It was her 
design to hold it by means of its Indian inhabitants. The 
Spaniards, whose settlements on the west of the Mississippi 
had come as far north as St. Louis, were not ill pleased at 
this policy. But the plans of English statesmen were coun- 
teracted by the irresistible tendency of the English colonists 
to emigrate. 

The present State of Kentucky was the first region to 
tempt explorers. The reader will remember Spotswood, and 
the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. Even in 1750 one 
Walker had traveled over the country, and the next year the 
well-knowo Christopher Gist, the companion of Washington, 
acting for the Ohio Company of Virginia, had traveled across 
the Alleghanies and up into Ohio, where he met George 
Croghan, the Indian trader ; for at this time the trade with 
these Indians was almost entirely in the hands of the Vir- 
ginians and Pennsylvanians, much to the jealousy of the 
French, Gist had gone out to locate a land grant, but 
colonization did not follow immediately. After the French 
and Indian war George Croghan had surveyed the country, 
which he thought well fitted for immediate colonization. 

In 1769 Daniel Boone made his first journey through Ken- 
tucky, He was a typical frontiersman, always moving on 
the farthest fringe of the settlements. Well skilled in wood- 
craft, great with the rifle, successful in his dealings with the 
Indians, there have been few men in our history who more 
justly deserve the name of the First Pioneer. He traversed 
over a great part of eastern Kentucky with his brother and 
two companions. The two latter were killed by the Indians 
and the younger Boone was forced to return to the settle- 
ments for anmiunition, Daniel Boone spent the winter abso- 
lutely alone with great contentment. The next summer he 
returned with his brother to bring their families out to the 
new country. The next year George Washington, floating 
down the Ohio river to, locate land for the soldiers of the 



2l6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

French war, was received by the Indians with honor, and 
returned with good accounts of the country. 

The first permanent settlement in Kentucky was made in 
1774 by James Harrod, with a company who passed down the 
Ohio, and thence some way inland, where they founded 
Harrodsburg. The next year Boone built a fort, and soon 
others were built. To obtain titles to land was the great 
object of their excursions. Colonel Henderson and others, 
in 1775, obtained a tract of land from the Cherokees, em- 
bracing all of the present State of Kentucky east of the Ken- 
tucky river. They at once proceeded to occupy it. Daniel 
Boone, leading forth a party, built a fort, which was named 
Boonesborough. Henderson sent out a call for a congress of 
delegates from the settlements in the surrounding country, 
which met at Boonesborough and adopted the name of 
" Transylvania." They drew up laws for self-government 
among them; one for punishment of profane swearing and 
Sabbath-breaking, and another for the preserving the breed 
of horses. Daniel Boone carried the passage of a bill for the 
preservation of game. But this government of Transylvania 
did not last. The grant from the Cherokees was in truth 
worthless. The whole country was held at the time to belong 
to Virginia. It had been hitherto neglected, or considered as 
part of the country of Fincastle. In 1777, however, the whole 
of what is now the State of Kentucky was made into the 
county of that name. Henderson and his Transylvanians 
received a grant of land at the north of the Green River to 
quiet them for the loss of the ^10,000 which they had paid 
for the worthless Transylvanian patent. 

George Rogers Clark had been sent in 1776 to Virginia, 
from Harrodsburg, to see what could be acomplished in re- 
gard to the erection of a country. On his return he saw much 
of the country and traveled far north of the Ohio, among 
the French villages in Illinois. The Revolutionary War had 
now begun, and the old French forts throughout the north- 
Avest were held by English garrisons. Hamilton, tlie Governor 
at Detroit, had heard of the Kentucky settlements and meant 



CLARK S SUCCESSES. 21/ 

to disperse them. In 1778 Clark received a commission from 
Virginia to bring men for operations to the north of the Ohio. 
With one hundred and fifty backwoodsmen he traversed the 
Illinois country, taking possession of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, 
on the Mississippi, and Vincennes, on the Wabash, the inhab- 
itants of which swore allegiance to the United States. Vin- 
cennes was, however, seized again by a force of Indians and 
regulars under Hamilton, who thought to make it the base of 
operations against Virginia. The next year Clark, hearing of 
a good opportunity, marched against him, leaving only a few 
men in the village at Kaskaskia. Hamilton had weakened 
his force by sending out war parties. Clark entered the vil- 
lage of Vincennes without difficulty, and the inhabitants 
assisted him in the reduction of the fort. Hamilton and some 
eighty men surrendered. Clark followed up his success by 
the capture of some reinforcements which were marching 
from Detroit. The conquered country, which came in the 
territory claimed by Virginia, was organized under the name 
of the county of Illinois. To every one of Clark's men was 
granted two hundred acres of land by the legislature of Vir- 
ginia. Meanwhile the inhabitants of Kentucky had not been 
unmolested. Although the territory which they occupied had 
not, before their settlement, been the home of any Indian 
tribes, yet Indian raids from the north were frequent; all the 
more so when the English agents stirred the tribes up to the 
warpath. In 1782 Simon Girty, a famous partisan chief, 
crossed the Ohio with five or six hundred Indians, and at- 
tempted the surprise of Bryan's Station ; but, deceived by a 
noise within the fort, he came to the conclusion that his 
approach had been discovered, and therefore he proceeded 
to besiege the post rather than attempt to carry it by storm. 
There were only fifty men within, besides women and chil- 
dren. Messengers were at once sent to the various stations, 
whose forces only broke through the Indian lines with the 
utmost difficulty. The garrison of the fort managed to supply 
itself with water, and, by a sortie, gained an advantage over 
the enemy. Girty withdrew, in the hope of surprising, on 
10 



2l8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

their approach, the reinforcements which it was thought 
would respond to the call of the messengers who had escaped ; 
but the ambush was unsuccessful, and the reinforcement 
reached the fort with small loss. Girty then summoned the 
fort to surrender, and on its refusal withdrew. The Ken- 
tuckians at once sallied out to pursue, and, shortly afterward, 
coming across Girty and his band, they made a reckless 
attack and were cut to pieces, with the loss of one-half their 
number. The loss was severe, but the colonists rallied under 
it, and the next year, under the command of Colonel Clark, 
a thousand men ravaged the country north of the Ohio in 
such fashion that no more Indian raids were attempted for 
some time. 

When the Revolutionary war closed, the Kentuekians natu- 
rally expected the evacuation of the western posts of the 
English, on the Great Lakes and elsewhere in the territory 
conceded to be within the United States. They were, how- 
ever, disappointed in this. The English still held the posts. 
Steuben, who was sent to receive the surrender of the posts, 
was told that no orders had arrived to deliver them up. In 
truth, the English held these posts for some years, pending 
the carrying out by the United States of another article of 
the Treaty of Peace which remained long unexecuted — the 
payment to English merchants of debts contracted before 
the war, collection of which was obstructed by many States 
in ways which the Federal Government, in its then weak con- 
dition, could not prevent. 

The early history of Tennessee is that of the State of 
" Franklin," sometimes called Frankland, and is curious and 
interesting : As early as 1758, before the settlement of Ken- 
tucky, the inhabitants of North Carolina had crossed the 
mountains and settled in the fertile region of the Cumberland 
River, until by 1784 there were, perhaps, ten thousand of them. 
In this year the State of North Carolina passed an act whereby 
her western lands were ceded to the United States. There 
Avere many reasons for this in the minds of the legislature, but 
the act aroused profound dissatisfaction in the minds of the 



TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY. 2ig 

inhabitants of the ceded counties, which increased when 
Congress, at that time a long way off, as things were, did noth- 
ing at all about it. The frontiersmen were deserted. They 
had no government, no militia, nothing. They at once gath- 
ered together, called conventions, and elected delegates, and, 
meeting at Jonesborough, they made themselves into an in- 
dependent State, to which they gave the name of " Franklin," 
and proceeded to adopt a constitution and send a petition to 
Congress to be admitted into the Union. They had some 
difficulties about these measures, and they were by no means 
completed when the North Carolinians changed their minds 
and thought they would rather keep their western lands to 
themselves. The legislature, therefore, repealed the act of 
cession, and arrangements were made for the administration 
of justice, and for the militia of the frontier counties. There 
were shortly two sets of authorities in Franklin. There were 
two sets of law-makers. There were two sets of judges, who 
greatly disturbed their respective legal proceedings. There 
were two sets of taxgatherers, a superfluity which rendered 
both impracticable. Not to be too long, the result, which 
could hardly be doubtful, came in 1787. The better or- 
ganization of the older State prevailed, and the rude ar- 
rangements of the mountaineers fell to pieces. Sevier, the 
Governor of the short-lived State, was put on trial for trea- 
son. Various exciting events followed. Sevier was rescued 
and pardoned. He subsequently returned to his country, 
where he was quite as popular as ever. As for the former 
Franklin, North Carolina again ceded it to the United States 
in 1789, at which time it was organized under the name of the 
Territory of Tennessee. In 1779 it was admitted as a State. 
Kentucky had been admitted some years earlier. In the 
years immediately following the close of the Revolutionary 
war, the desire of separation from Virginia had grown more 
and more general. Virginia was not disinclined to allow the 
young country to set up for itself, and in 1786 her General 
Assembly passed an act of session whereby Kentucky might 
be separated from Virginia provided that before the fi-rst of 



220 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

June, 1787, Congress should vote her admission into the Union. 
This Congress by no means did; it was not so much that there 
was opposition to the admission of Kentucky, but Congress 
acted slowly, and the matter needed due consideration. Mean- 
while the Kentuckians grew impatient and turned their atten- 
tion in another direction, as will be seen in another chapter. 
They had to look west and south as well as east and north. 

In 1 79 1 Congress finally passed an act whereby Kentucky 
became a State. There was no opposition in Kentucky to 
the arrangement. All the Spanish intrigues had probably 
been merely either a last resort of men who would have pre- 
ferred to become a part of the United States, or schemes of 
uninfluential adventurers. 

North of the Ohio, the territory east of the Mississippi was 
known under the general name of the North-west Territory. 
The right to it under the old charters was utterly confused. 
Massachusetts, as the reader knows, had a claim to the South 
Sea, as wide, at least, as the longer part of Massachusetts is 
to-day; "Virginia had a similar claim; and hardly less than 
hers was the claim of New York and that of Connecticut. 
All these, however, had been ceded to the United States by 
acts of patriotism and self-devotion on the parts of the States 
which held them. 

When the Revolutionary War was at an end, and the atten- 
tion of the nation could be turned to this region, a great im- 
pulse for emigration across the Alleghanies set in. Although 
the State of Kentucky had been by this time so thickly pop- 
ulated that it was seeking admission to the Union, the rich 
and fertile country between the Ohio and the Great Lakes 
was still unsettled. Congress was busy with schemes for its 
government, but it had not yet been settled. There were 
some few garrisoned forts in the country. Near the old 
French Fort Venango, on French Creek, was Fort Franklin. 
Fort Vincennes was on the Wabash. Fort Steuben was near 
the Ohio River, opposite the present site of Louisville. 
There were not a few settlers on the banks of the Ohio, but 
the interior was still unoccupied by white men. 



MARIETTA. 221 

In 1785 Benjamin Tupper returned to New England from 
a surveying trip in the Ohio with his mind full of the splen- 
did country which he had seen. Conferring with his friend 
Rufus Putnam, the two put before the public the scheme of 
the Ohio Company. In the early part of 1786 a notice ap- 
peared in certain of the Massachusetts newspapers calling 
the attention of old soldiers of the war, an.d such others as 
might be able to profit by the land ordinances of Congress, to 
a scheme for settling the Ohio country. A meeting was called 
of delegates from all over the State, who adopted a plan for 
the raising of money for the purchase of western land and 
the settlement thereof. One million dollars were to be raised 
in thousand-dollar shares within the year. The next year, a 
sufficient sum being raised, the directors met to consider 
plans. A memorial had been presented to Congress for the 
purchase of lands, and now Manasseh Cutler was sent to 
New York to further the bargain. 

Congress was by no means indisposed to accede to the de- 
sires of the company. It desired to have the western lands 
settled, and was particularly desirous that those lands should 
be settled by a hardy set of veterans, and it was also pleased 
at finding something to occupy the disbanded army. Yet 
there were difficulties in the way. But Cutler seems to have 
been skillful in negotiation, as he was in many other respects, 
and in October, 1787, the government sold five million acres 
of land on the Ohio. Of this, one million and a half were for 
the Ohio Company. The price per acre was one dollar of 
United States certificates, worth about twelve cents. 

The company immediately set vigorously to work. The 
first colony was ready to start in a month. They started from 
Hartford, spent the winter in the neighborhood of Pittsburg, 
and when the river opened they set out down the stream in 
a flat-boat, which they named the Mayflower. They landed 
near the confluence of the Ohio and the Muskingum. In a 
few months they were joined by another company, under 
Cutler. The settlement thus made was called Marietta, in 
honor of the Queen of France. Shortly after this, a little 



222 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

farther down the river, another settlement was made, with 
the eccentric name of Losantiville, which .any one conversant 
with Latin, Greek, and French will easily understand means 
" the city opposite the mouth " of the Licking River. This 
was settled on land bought of Congress by one Symmes, 
with whom were interested certain others. 

These were the first settlements, but they were not long the 
only ones. A strong tide of emigration began to flow in the 
direction of the Ohio country. The Ohio Company in New 
England sent large numbers. The private owners of tracts 
also sent many. In the year 1788 as many as ten thousand 
emigrants are said to have passed Marietta on their way 
down stream. But it must be remembered that the western 
part of New York and of Pennsylvania were at that time un- 
settled, and that they had to be filled up, as well as the im- 
mense tract now included in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and 
Illinois. Even down to the close of the century, Western 
New York and the country of Eastern Ohio was the Far 
West. Emigration was continual. Some men passed along the 
Mohawk Valley, by way of Albany, and settled in Western 
New York. Others crossed the mountains to Pittsburg or 
Wheeling, and passed the Ohio. A line of packets was started 
in 1794 between Cincinnati and Pittsburg. The trip was made 
in vessels heavily armed, for fear of Indians. In truth, the 
redskins had kept the Ohio settlements pretty closely to the 
river. But after Wayne's expedition had struck terror among 
the tribes, colonization became more rapid. The population 
increased rapidly. In 1790 there were in the country between 
the Ohio and the Great Lakes about five thousand inhabi- 
tants, all told. In 1800 there were fifty-one thousand. In 
Kentucky the increase had also been great. The first census 
gave seventy-three thousand, the second three times as many. 

Provision had been made by Congress in the year 1787 for 
the government of the public lands. There had been many 
plans submitted especially for this large region. One of 
them contemplated the erection of seventeen States out of 
the country to the north and west of the Ohio and east of the 



WESTERN STATES. 223 

Mississippi. Another suggested various names for the pro- 
posed States. Sylvania, Chersonesus, Meopotamia, Sara- 
toga, Assenisippia, and others of like nature, would have 
rendered the Central States and their capitals a harder lesson 
for the schoolboy than it is now. The measures passed by 
Congress in 1787 provided for the formation of Territories by 
the United States and for their government. When any Ter- 
ritory reached sixty thousand in number it might be admitted 
to the Union. In 1787, by the North-west Ordinance, the 
whole of this country was formed into the North-west Terri- 
tory, and, by a special provision, slavery was forever excluded 
from its limits. Ohio was named as a separate Territory in 
1800, and the government or Territory of Indiana formed in 
the same year. In 1805 the Territory of Michigan was formed 
and in 1809 that of Illinois. In 1816 Indiana became a 
State, Illinois in 1818, and Michigan in 1836. The present 
State of Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1802. 



224 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Valley of the Mississippi and Texas. 

Discovery of the Great West — Robert Cavalier de la Salle — Lemoyne 
d'lberville — The French Possess Louisiana — Financial Schemes of 
John Law — Settlement of New Orleans — French and Indian Troubles 
— Massacre of the French by the Natchez Tribe — The French and 
the Choctaws defeat the Natchez — Bienville appointed Governor of 
New Orleans— End of French and Indian War — France deprived of 
her American Possessions, including Canada and Florida — Spain ac- 
quires Louisiana — Opposition to Spanish Rule by the Inhabitants 
— Order Finally Restored and Spanish Government Established — Im- 
portance of Navigation on the Mississippi — Objects of First Settlers — 
Spanish Annoyances — The Confederacy is powerless — Intrigues of 
Spain and England — Spanish Governors— Adams's plans — Miranda — 
Hamilton — Wilkinson — Xapoleon's plans — Philip Nolan — Texas. 

THE French were the first Europeans to discover the 
Great West. By their explorers was the Mississippi 
discovered in its upper waters, and by their explorers was it 
followed through the whole length of its mighty course. By 
the French were the first settlements planted on the great 
lakes and on the great rivers of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mich- 
igan, and Wisconsin, as well as within the boundaries of all 
those States from north to south which border on the Missis- 
sippi. 

An English writer, of the end of the seventeenth century, 
claims that the Mississippi was discovered by the fur-traders 
of Massachusetts, and that the French took their Indian 
guides with them in the voyage of La Salle. It is certain that 
La Salle's guides were from the province of Maine, and it is 
difficult to say why, unless he thought they knew the way bet- 
ter than Indians of Canadian provinces ; but no record or 
memory of a discovery by Massachusetts men now exists in 
that State. 



ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE. 22$ 

It was in the 3^ear 1673 that two French priests, Marquette 
and Joliet, with several companions and two Indian guides, 
embarked on the Wisconsin River and floated down stream 
toward the Mississippi. They had wandered over great parts 
of Michigan and Wisconsin in their missionary efforts, and 
now, with the assistance of the government at Quebec, they 
were setting forth to discover the great river which, as they 
supposed, would show them a short road to the Pacific Ocean. 
The party passed down the Wisconsin, and in a week's time 
reached the great river ; with great joy they set their sails and 
took their way downward. They passed by the mouth of 
the Missouri and then the Ohio, and finally, having reached a 
point opposite the Arkansas River, they turned back and made 
their way home. They had satisfied themselves that the great 
river flowed not into the Gulf of California but into the Gulf 
of Mexico, and they feared that they should fall into the 
hands of Spainards, whereby the fruits of their expedition 
might be lost. Marquette died on the journey home, and 
was buried in Michigan, near the river which now bears his 
name. 

The work thus begun was taken in hand by a man fit to 
accomplish it. Robert Cavalier de la Salle was a man who 
looked to the west for his fortune. In the year 1677 he set 
forth on an expedition which resulted in nothing more than 
an exploration of the Illinois country, though Father Henne- 
pin, who started with him, affirms that he himself, with another, 
sailed down the Mississippi to its mouth. As a matter of fact, 
it is generally agreed that Hennepin sailed up the river as far 
as the falls of St. Anthony, where he was taken prisoner by 
the Sioux. But La Salle's second expedition was more suc- 
cessful. They made their way up the Chicago River, and so 
across to the Illinois and then down the Mississippi. On the 
6th of April, 1682, they reached the mouths of the Mississippi. 
On the next day La Salle explored the south-west passage to 
the sea, and on the 9th he planted a column and a cross, with 
the arms of France displayed, and formally took possession, in 
the name of Louis XIV., of the whole basin of the river which 
10* 



226 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

he had opened to the world. This included the country of 
the Mississippi and of all its tributaries from the Ohio country 
on the east to the lands drained by the Missouri on the west. 
On this discovery rested the claim of France to Louisiana, as 
the new province was called, and it has been practically re- 
spected to this day. It is on this claim that the United States 
to-day holds Louisiana, and all the country north of Texas 
lying between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. 

The expedition returned by the way it had come, and La 
Salle sailed for France to make interest for the colonization 
of the new region. It lay in his mind to begin at the other 
end, and accordingly, in 1684, with a squadron of four ves- 
sels, he sailed for the Gulf of Mexico to found a colony on the 
river which he had discovered. The colony was well equip- 
ped and provided for. But through the imperfect calculations 
of that day he passed the mouth of the Mississippi, and did 
not discover his error until he had gone so far beyond it that 
the naval officer who commanded the ships refused to return 
to it. The settlement was therfore made within the limits of 
the present State of Texas, in Matagorda Bay. Beaujeu, with 
the ships, sailed away and left the colony. He subsequently 
spread such reports in regard to it that the aid which had 
been promised was not sent. Left to itself, the colony fared 
but ill. La Salle made many expeditions to find the fatal river. 
Finally, things being in a deplorable state, he determined to 
march across the continent to Canada to obtain some assist- 
ance for his colony. He started forth with about twenty 
men. On the way quarrels arose among his followers. La 
Salle himself was shot down and killed, and the expedition 
was broken up. Some of them found their way to the Mis- 
sissippi and then to Canada. But what became of the colony 
is unknown. It was fifteen years before another attempt was 
made. The only French settlement was a cottage at the 
mouth of the Arkansas. 

After the peace of Ryswick, Lemoyne d'Iberville, a Canadian 
nobleman in the French naval service, received the charge 
of an expedition planned by Louis XIV. to colonize the new 



JOHN LAW. 227 

province. Before they reached America, Spain had already 
settled at Pensacola, which thus became part of Florida. But 
d'Iberville, with his brother, known as Bienville, sailed on 
farther, and made a settlement on the island of Biloxi, in Mo- 
bile Bay, in the year 1699. Shortly after, a second post was 
settled on the Mississippi, some thirty or forty miles below the 
site of New Orleans. There was permanent possession taken 
by France of the Territory of Louisiana. 

The claims of the English to the region were disputed, and 
France and Spain being at that time in alliance against the 
rest of Europe, the French in Louisiana were assisted upon 
occasion by the Spaniards in Mexico and Florida. They 
opened communication with Canada, and are said to have 
brought copper from the Lake Superior region. The brothers 
d'Iberville and Bienville exercised the chief power in the lit- 
tle settlement, which for the first fifteen years, probably, had 
never more than five hundred inhabitants, white and black, 
soldiers and all. With the end of the war of the Spanish Suc- 
cession more interest was taken by France in her new colony; 
but little came from it more than the appointment of officers 
who quarreled with Bienville. He inherited the influence 
of his brother who had died some years before. But in 1707, 
the colony being made over to the "Western Company," 
under John Law, Bienville was himself made governor-gen- 
eral of Louisiana. 

John Law, the son of a rich goldsmith of Edinburgh, was 
well advanced in life when, in 17 16, he proposed his financial 
schemes to the Regent d'Orleans, who was now in power after 
the death of Louis XIV. Law had received a good education, 
learned a good deal of gambling, killed a man in a duel, and 
had escaped his country, when, about 1698, he found himself 
in Amsterdam, where he employed his time in the study of 
banking. Here he conceived certain financial theories which 
he successively propounded in Scotland, France, Italy, and 
Germany, but without any success. But in 17 16, as we have 
said, he propounded his plans in France again, and this time 
with success. He was allowed to establish a private bank 



228 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

to discount notes and issue notes redeemable in coin. He 
proved successful, and was allowed to enlarge his operations. 
The notes were made legal tender, and were a great conve- 
nience to the nation at that time, at the last gasp, as far as 
public credit was concerned — such was its suffering from the 
extravagant reign of Louis XIV". One feature in Law's 
scheme was the management of monopolies. He now be- 
came the successor to Crozat, to whom the monopoly of the 
Mississippi trade had been granted. Law was allowed to 
form a company which should have a monopoly of the beaver 
trade of Canada and the whole commerce of Louisiana. A 
company was at once formed, which issued more bonds, and 
the work of colonization was pressed with much vigor and 
expense but with little enough result. Bienville, as we have 
said, was appointed governor, and was bidden to find a good 
and suitable spot for the capital. The new town was named 
New Orleans, in honor of the Regent, who was the patron of 
the Mississippi Company. Law's schemes became more and 
mord popular, more and more privileges and monopolies 
were granted, more and more paper was issued, until finally, 
at the very height of speculation, the company became bank- 
rupt without having accomplished any thing. Louisiana was 
restored to the king by the Mississippi Company, hardly any 
better off than it had been before such high hopes had been 
formed and so much money wasted. The city of New Or- 
leans was hardly any thing more than a collection of tents 
and huts, where one or two hundred miserable creatures man- 
aged to exist. The other settlements were as badly off. 
Large sums of money had been lavished to almost no pur- 
pose. But a beginning had been made. Before the charter 
of the Mississippi Company had been given up the colony 
had entered upon its experience of Indian wars. Up the 
river was the tribe of Natchez Indians, among whom the 
French had established a trading station, the most prosperous 
on the river. Unlike the usual custom of the French in 
their dealings with the native tribes, Chopart, the comman- 
dant, was foolish enough to demand, as a plantation for him- 



BIENVILLE S CAMPAIGN. 229 

self, the land whereon stood the great village of the Natchez. 
The Indians were deeply outraged. They planned with the 
Choctaws, near New Orleans, to massacre all the French in 
the land. The respective chiefs exchanged bundles of sticks 
of equal number. One stick was to be burnt each day, and 
when all were gone the attack was to be made. One day the 
son of the Natchez chief, observing his father burning the 
stick, laid hold of the bundle and burned two of those which 
were left. Therefore the Natchez made the attack two days 
before the appointed time. Their attack was successful. 
Two hundred of the French were killed, and their women 
and children made prisoners. 

Down the river, Perier, the governor of New Orleans, sus- 
pecting some mischief, had managed to put off the Choctaws 
for a few days, by which time news of the Natchez massacre 
came down the river and incensed the Choctaws, who were 
indignant at the breaking of the solemn treaty.- Perier found 
little difficulty in persuading them to join him in an attack 
on the Natchez. On January 28, 1730, while the Natchez 
were sleeping off the effects of a festivity, the Choctaws broke 
in upon them and took away their prisoners. The French 
coming up shortly, the Natchez were attacked and worsted. 
Many were taken prisoners and sold into slavery. Many 
found refuge among other and distant tribes. The descend- 
ants of them live with the Creek nation to this day. 

Bienville, who had returned to Europe, was again appointed 
governor by the king, and arrived in New Orleans a little 
more than a year after the Natchez affair. He, too, became 
involved in an Indian war, which turned out disastrously. 
He made demands on the Chickasaw Indians, the most war- 
like of the Southern tribes, and receiving an unfavorable 
answer, determined on an expedition against them. D'Arta- 
quette, who commanded at Caskaskia, far up the river, was 
ordered to join him. The expedition failed. The two forces 
did not meet. D'Artaquette, urged on by his Indian allies, 
made an attack alone, and was defeated. He himself and 
almost fifty Frenchmen were captured and burned to death 



230 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Bienville's effort was also unsuccessful, but he and his force 
managed to escai)e with their lives after two unavailing at- 
tacks on the Chickasaw fort. 

Bienville was succeeded by Vaudreuil, who remained in 
the colony eight years, after which he was transferred to 
Canada, where he worked not wholly in harmony with Mont- 
calm in the " French and Indian War." Under his adminis- 
tration there is not much to chronicle, except the gradual 
increase in population, and gradual advance in cultivation of 
the soil and of commerce. In 1745 New Orleans had in- 
creased to a population of eight hundred male white settlers. 
There were about three hundred blacks and two hundred 
soldiers. The town was well laid out around the Place 
d'Armes, now known as Jackson Square, with streets running 
at right angles. It was surrounded by a stockade. Some 
few houses at this time were of brick, but the larger number 
were of wood. Farther up the river there were quite a num- 
ber of settlers in Illinois and Missouri, and a number of 
blacks there as well. There were in all, counting in soldiers 
and negroes, perhaps six thousand inhabitants at the end of 
half a century of settlement. 

By the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years' 
War, generally called the " French and Indian War " by our 
fathers, more changes were made in the map of America than 
in that of Europe. France wholly deprived herself of her 
American possessions. Canada was ceded to England. Under 
the name, Canada, were included all the French possessions to 
the north of the Ohio and west of the Mississippi. France 
had already made over Louisiana to Spain in recompense for 
Florida ceded by that country to England. Thus England 
gained possession of all the country east of the Mississippi, 
save a small territpry east of its mouth, while Spain pos- 
sessed all to the west. The cession was made known to the 
inhabitants by a letter from Louis XV., dated April 21, 1764. 
The whole colony was plunged in grief. It was felt that they 
had been degraded, bartered like merchandise, humiliated by 
" their sudden transformation into Spaniards or Englishmen 



SPAIN IN LOUISIANA. 23 1 

without their consent." They resolved to make petition to 
the king. But nothing could be done. In 1765 a letter was 
received from Ulloa, who had been appointed by the king of 
Spain to take possession of the town. But he did not him- 
self arrive in New Orleans till March, 1765. When he did 
arrive he found the people resolute against him, and could 
accomplish nothing, and was forced to retire to the Balise. 
It was thought possible to make Louisiana a republic. The 
inhabitants sent another appeal to France. But there was no 
help from that quarter. It was not French policy to retain 
colonial property in America. In July, 1769, O'Reilly landed 
in the country and made his way to New Orleans. A Spanish 
fleet anchored before the city, and those who had been 
foremost in the rebellious proceedings were arrested. After 
two months' imprisonment they were tried and the greater 
number condemned. Some were imprisoned, others executed. 
The people were intimidated, and the government now passed 
quietly into the hands of the Spaniards. 

By the other transfer in the Treaty of Paris, the Floridas, 
both east and west, passed into the hands of the English. 
East Florida, represented by the town of St. Augustine, had 
been long before settled by the Spanish, and by them held 
against all English and French attacks. We remember the 
expedition of Oglethorpe in 1740. West Florida was held by 
the Spanish fort at Pensacola, which had been captured by 
Bienville with a force from Louisiana, recaptured by the 
Spaniards, and once more taken by Bienville and destroyed. 
But the Spaniards had returned and rebuilt the town on an 
island in the harbor. In the Seven Years' War the declara- 
tion of war had hardly been made before an English fleet 
and army had seized Havana, and in the peace which ended 
the struggle Spain was glad to exchange both the Floridas 
against Havana. Thus the English possessions extended the 
whole length of the Atlantic seaboard of North America. En- 
gland gained little else than territory in this cession, for Spain 
had only held Florida as a means of insuring her command of 
the Gulf, and there was probably a Spanish population of less 



232 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

than four thousand in the whole cession. The boundary be- 
tween West Florida and Louisiana was unsettled, but Gov- 
ernor Johnston, appointed to West Florida, proceeded at once 
to occupy the Forts Conde, Toulouse, Baton Rouge, and 
Natchez, indeed all the territory on the east bank of the 
Mississippi except New Orleans, and this claim was acceded 
to. So soon as the American Revolution broke out, Oliver 
Pollock, a spirited American merchant li.ving in New Orleans, 
made secret arrangements with the Spanish governor by which 
he sent powder up the river to Pittsburg for the relief of 
the army of the Congress. In 1779, Spain having declared 
war against England, operations were at once directed by 
the Governor of New Orleans against all the English 
posts, and with much success. Manchac, Baton Rouge, and 
Natchez were captured at once. Mobile was taken the next 
year, and in 17 81 a strong expedition from Havana sailed 
for Pensacola to co-operate with Galvez, the Spanish gov- 
ernor. The fort was besieged and captured. In the Treaty 
of 1783 the Floridas were ceded back again to Spain. By 
Spain they were held until 1819, when both Floridas were 
ceded to the United States. 

The Spanish domination lasted thirty-four years. It made 
little impression on the people, who had hated the new gov- 
ernment, and retained their nationality doggedly under for- 
eign rule. The visitor to New Orleans will notice on each side 
of the French cathedral on Jackson Square, a large build- 
ing covered with stucco. They were the Spanish government 
buildings. Farther along, without the boundaries of the old 
French town, is the Calabosa, or slaves' jail, also a Spanish 
building. 

But although the people did not at once accommodate 
themselves to the Spanish rule, they did not, after the first 
outbreak, make any serious disturbance. Even O'Reilly, 
whose first proceedings were so severe, was not utterly hate- 
ful to them. He stayed but a year, and was succeeded by 
Unzaga. 

One Spanish governor after another came and went, and 



NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 233 

the town of New Orleans grew and prospered, and the prov- 
ince of Louisiana also. The soil gave them good return for 
their labor, and the great river was a great source of wealth, 
for, as time went on, and the country to the north became 
more and more settled, the navigation of the Mississippi be- 
came of more and more importance, and the power which ^ 
controlled it, as Spain did by the city of New Orleans, could 
prescribe what conditions she pleased. 

As time went on, and Kentucky and Tennessee became 
more and more thickly settled, and as the tide of emigration 
began to flow over the north-west territory, the navigation of 
the Mississippi became more and more a matter of vital im- 
portance. To New England, a seafaring country, the New- 
foundland fisheries seemed of more account, and the other 
States to the east of the Alleghanies, having each their own 
affairs, could not feel the importance of the Mississippi ques- 
tion as keenly as did the frontiersmen. Therefore, when the 
free navigation of the Mississippi became a question for ne- 
gotiation with Spain after the conclusion of peace with En- 
gland, the western settlers looked with jealousy at the delays 
in negotiation, and turned their eyes to the Spanish provinces 
down the river. They had come for fertile lands, in the 
thought of making for themselves productive farms and 
happy homes. As they gained these farms and homes, and 
produced, by their prosperous work, crops which they wished 
to sell, their outlet to the world of commerce became impor- 
tant to them. Furs, wheat, Indian corn or tobacco could 
not be hauled across the mountains. If such products were 
to be sold, they must go down the great rivers of Ohio, Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee to the Mississippi and so find the pur- 
chasers of the world. 

So long as the alliance existed between the insurgent col- 
onies, France and Spain, all had been harmony. One and 
another expedition against the English were fitted out, with 
the Spanish assistance, while the war lasted. 

But with the return of peace the Spanish authorities 
asserted the advantage which their position gave them. The 



234 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

new settlers of the territory on the Ohio built ships from the 
pine timber which they found there, and sent them, ready for 
sea, down the Mississippi. But when they arrived in New Or- 
leans they could not pass if the Spanish governor refused per- 
mission. On the southern side of the Ohio the planters already 
raised tobacco, which would have been in large demand in 
Europe. But this tobacco could not pass New Orleans with- 
out paying tribute to the Spanish authorities, if, indeed, they 
did not confiscate it, or insist on purchasing it at their own 
price, on account of the King of Spain. 

Half Eastern Europe assents to-day to such an arrange- 
ment, by which the Sultan of Turkey may do as he chooses 
with the goods or the ships which seek the ocean from the 
Danube or the Don, two of the largest rivers of Europe. But, 
from the first, such a claim. on the part of Spain was dis- 
gusting to the settlers in the valley of the Mississippi. From 
the first moment of the peace, for twenty years of doubtful 
confusion, these settlers had to face the question how they 
should solve so great a difficulty. 

The government established by the old Confederacy was 
powerless to help them. The stronger administration of 
Washington saw the difficulty, and attempted to meet it with 
some success. But the King of Spain and his ministers 
understood very well that they held the lion's position ; and 
at best, Spanish diplomacy is always slow. The settlers saw 
little prospect of help by peaceful means. On the other 
hand, agents of the King of Spain were not slow to lay before 
them the advantages which they would obtain if they gave 
up their fanciful allegiance to America, which could do noth- 
ing to help them, and become rather the favored subjects of 
the king who owned half the world, and who, in this affair, 
controlled their access to the whole of it. 

On the other side, these frontiersmen were approached by 
other tempters. Sir Guy Carleton, whom we saw last as he 
bade good-bye to Washington at New York, was now, as Lord 
Dorchester, the English Governor of Canada. He was an 
active and intelligent ruler, and kept himself well informed 



JAMES WILKINSON. 235 

as to the country from which he had, very tardily, withdrawn 
the English garrisons. He, on his side, as the Spanish king 
on his, approached the influential men of the new settlements 
by agents who explained to them the advantages of an 
English connection. It was clear enough that the St. Law- 
rance was already under the control of King George. The 
chances of war might soon give to his navy the command of 
the mouth of the Mississippi. On his side, also, men asked 
the emigrants in the great valley to consider the question, of 
what worth was their sentimental enthusiasm for the Atlantic 
States, which neglected or forgot them. 

Unfortunately for the American cause, for a period which 
covered much of the twenty years of such controversy James 
Wilkinson was an important representative of the Federal 
government. He was for many years the officer highest in 
command of what was called the " Legion of the West," 
which was that detachment of the army which held the posts 
west of the Alleghanies. Before this time he had been a 
planter in Kentucky, having gone there, as Greene had gone 
to Georgia, Pickering to Pennsylvania, and Knox to Maine, 
to seek new fortunes, at the end of the war. As early as 1787, 
Wilkinson had sent tobacco down the river to Orleans. 
Even in his early adventures there his neighbors suspected 
that he had received some special favors from the Spanish 
Government. After he commanded the American army, he 
was once and again tried by court-martial, under similar sus- 
picions ; but he succeeded in obtaining acquittals. Only in 
the last generation has an accident revealed the truth that 
for several years he received a regular payment from the 
Spanish Crown, while he affected to be a loyal American 
citizen. 

The Spanish government meanwhile confided the abso- 
lute charge of the vast region known as Louisiana, to mili- 
tary officers, who were hampered by no restrictions but the 
orders, not always consistent, which they received from home. 
Their dealings with the Americans of the valley above them, 
were wayward, and to the last degree annoying. Sometimes 



236 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

they may have had an excuse in orders from Spain; more 
often they seemed to have acted from panic fear of the 
" Yankees," as they called all the settlers, or from the mere 
willfulness of arbitrary power. Sudden changes in the reg- 
ulations were made, for which no skill could prepare. Seiz- 
ures of property, with no reasonable cause, insulted and 
sometimes ruined the men who had sent it. Once and 
again were combinations made of these hardy backwoods- 
men, who had held their own against all other enemies, and 
who were determined to sweep the whole Spanish crew into 
the sea. The fortifications of Orleans were contemptible. 
Its garrison was small. And there can be little doubt that 
any raid, well led, from the American settlers above, 
would have succeeded. Such raids were prevented largely 
by the eager counsels which might have been called the 
petitions of the Federal government, that the settlers would 
wait a little longer; partly by some hope that the compli- 
cations in Europe would put a new view on affairs, and 
partly by the terrors of the Spanish governors themselves, 
who would make an unexpected concession as readily as they 
made an unexpected demand, and sometimes bought a truce 
where they had themselves incurred the danger of war. 

When, in 1797, the foreign relations of the country made 
war with France imminent, John Adams and his cabinet 
determined to take the occasion of such war to settle the 
Spanish complication also. General Miranda, who had 
already begun the movement which ended in the indepen- 
dence of the Spanish colonies on the north of South Amer- 
ica, appeared in Philadelphia, as he had done in England, 
to interest the government in measures for the assistance 
of his insurgent compatriots. General Hamilton, who was 
to hold high command in the American army, conferred 
with him, and corresponded with Wilkinson in the West, his 
treachery, of course, not being then suspected. A plan was 
agreed upon by which a strong body of American troops 
should sail down the river from Cincinnati. In the enlist- 
ment of the new army several regiments of recruits were 



PHILIP NOLAN. 237 

enlisted at once in Cincinnati, and were drilled there for a 
war which nominally threatened France, but which in fact 
would have concerned Spain. 

All such speculations were changed by the accession of 
Napoleon to power. He became the arbiter of the destinies 
of the valley of the Mississippi, as he afterward made him- 
self the arbiter of the destinies of Europe. He brushed 
away the complications which threatened war between Amer- 
ica and France. No one in America ventured to prepare 
an army for the sake of attacking Spain, and for the 
moment the hopes of the backwoodsmen were disappointed. 
The recruits at Cincinnati were dismissed, and the expedi- 
tion against Orleans was abandoned. 

It was in this period of uncertainty that a young Kentuck- 
ian, named Philip Nolan, obtained some knowledge of Texas. 
He was the first of a series of Americans who led adventure 
to that State, unrivaled in its climate and resources, and 
there he met his fate. He had been educated in Kentucky, 
and while yet a young man had found his way to the settle- 
ments which were opening up the American side of the Mis- 
sissippi River at Natchez. He married a young lady of 
American family who lived opposite Natchez, in what was 
then Spanish territory. By one and another expedition he 
learned of the abundance of horses which then roamed at 
large in the forests of Texas ; and he made a contract with 
the Spanish Government at Orleans, for supplying the garri- 
son with horses. To execute this order the pass of the 
Spanish governor was necessary, as Texas, though under 
Spanish jurisdiction, was under the oversight of officers 
appointed from Mexico. The authorities at Orleans were 
appointed directly from the crown at Madrid. In this busi- 
ness Nolan obtained a knowledge of Texas, and he wrote 
to Mr. Jefferson, at his request, some information on the wild 
horse of the plains, and other matters of scientific interest. 

If Texas had boasted the fatal gift of gold, Spain would 
have made much of such a province. As it had nothing but 
a climate well-nigh perfect, and soil well-nigh exhaustless, 



238 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Spain was indifferent to it. But once and again Spain had 
quarreled even with France about it, jealous of as slight an 
invasion, even, as the accidental settlement made by poor 
La Salle, when he failed to find the Mississippi. 

Spain maintained a post at San Antonio, simply to keep 
the peaceful Indians in awe, and to discourage depredation. 
On the prairies and through the forests of Texas they went 
at their will. Different encroachments of the French had 
been resisted; and when, in 1765, Louisiana also had passed 
under Spanish rule, there were hardly seven hundred and 
fifty persons of Spanish blood in all Texas, with perhaps as 
many domiciliated Indians. Most of these were at Adaes 
and San Antonio ; the rest were scattered at Nacogdoches, 
Orquisaco, and Mound Prairies. Between San Antonio and 
Natchez, the French settlement on the Mississippi, there 
sprang up a trade for mutual convenience. As both prov- 
inces, Texas and Louisiana, were under the Spanish flag, it 
seems absurd to call the trade in any way contrabrand or 
irregular. But in fact, the two provinces reported to differ- 
ent departments at Madrid, and the same forms were main- 
tained as were in force when they were under two crowns. 

Nolan had been engaged in this trade, so far that he knew 
the route from Natchez to San Antonio. He once or twice, 
by special permit, supplied the Spanish garrison at Orleans 
with horses caught in Texas. Nothing better illustrates the 
folly of the colonial system of Spain, than that her rulers, 
having horses which they needed on their own plains, should 
place every obstacle possible between the men who caught 
the horses, and the soldiers who wanted them for their cav- 
alry and their cannon. On a similar expedition Nolan again 
obtained a passport, and with five Spaniards and twelve young 
Americans, started to catch horses, in October, 1800. Before 
they started, the Spanish consul at Natchez complained of 
infraction of neutrality, and Nolan was arrested by the United 
States authorities. On examination, however, he produced 
his passport, and was permitted to go on. Forty miles west 
of the Mississippi they met a Spanish patrol, but these sol- 



NOLAN S DEATH. 239 

diers let them pass. After this, though they had many 
interviews with Caddo and Comanche Indians, they met no 
Spaniards until the 2 2d of March, when they were surprised, 
at a point not far distant from the present town of Waco, by 
one hundred and fifty Spaniards sent out to arrest them. 
Their outpost was surprised in the night, and six sentinels 
taken. The twelve Americans were asleep, and in the morn- 
ing the Spaniards wakened them by firing on the log pen in 
which they were. Nolan himself was killed a few minutes 
after. The others retreated, but on the afternoon of the 
same day surrendered, promising to return to their own 
country and cease to come into Texas. 

This treaty was, however, soon broken by the Spaniards. 
The Americans, as the Mexicans call the men of the 
United States, were put in irons, and taken first to San 
Antonio, and then to Chihuahua. Here they remained until 
1808, when, after years of correspondence, a final order 
was obtained from Madrid as to their fate. The order was 
given that every fifth man should be shot, the choice to be 
made by lot. There were nine left, and the order was so 
mercifully interpreted that but one was killed. The victim 
was shot in the presence of the others. Of these, five were 
taken to Mexico in irons. 

Such was the treatment which the Spanish court measured 
out to men who were hunting in their own territory, with a 
pass from one of their own officers. It is not wonderful 
that Bean, the commander of these prisoners, became a pa- 
triot officer afterward in the Mexican revolution. 

To complete the story of these unfortunate men we have 
anticipated the course of events in the country from which 
they were thus exiled. While they were prisoners in Texas 
the whole province of Louisiana had passed under the con- 
trol of the United States. 

The accession of Napoleon to power in Europe brought a 
short truce, known as the Peace of Amiens, into the European 
war. As early as October, in 1800, the weak government of 
Spain had been compelled to give Louisiana back to France 



240 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

by a secret treaty. This was only publicly acknowledged, 
however, in 1802. When, in 1803, Napoleon found that war 
was again inevitable, he sent for the American envoys in Paris 
and offered to them, at a low price, the Avhole territory. They 
had instructions to buy Orleans and the mouth of the river. 
Napoleon offered them the whole. They were amazed, and 
well they might have been, at the grandeur of the offer. 
There was no time to obtain orders from home. So soon as 
war was declared England could and would seize the mouth 
of the river. They made the great purchase, assuming the 
responsibility. For fifteen millions of dollars Napoleon sold 
them, not Orleans only, as they asked, but the empire between 
the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, as far to the north- 
ward as the Mississippi flowed. If France had any rights to 
Texas, as the United States afterward claimed, he sold them. 
If Louisiana could be made to extend beyond the Rocky 
Mountains to the sea, he sold this right also. 

Robert Livingston, one of the wisest of our statesmen, was 
in Paris, and concluded the great negotiation which enables 
the United States to-day to send food over the world. So 
little did he know the greatness of what he did, that he wrote 
home : "I have told them that we should not send a settler 
across the Mississippi for one hundred years." This was in 
1803. He encouraged Mr. Jefferson, whose timidity he feared, 
by telling him that he had already arranged with buyers who 
would leave to America, Orleans and the river's mouth, and 
take all the rest of the purchase " off our hands" by repaying 
the fifteen millions. 

Napoleon understood what he had done, better than Liv- 
ingston did. When Marbois, his minister, reported to him 
that the treaty was complete, he said : 

"I have given England her rival." 

A war of parties, and a jealousy between East and West, 
threw some obstacles in the way of the confirmation of the 
treaty by which Louisiana was purchased. All the vast ter- 
ritory west of the Mississippi was thus called. It was then 
arranged that a State should be made of the region around 



LEWIS AND CLARK. 24. 

Orleans, and the French settlements. The rest was wholly- 
unsettled, excepting a few French posts and a little settle- 
ment at New Madrid, in Missouri. 

Mr. Jefferson, delighted with his success, at once fitted out 
a party of soldiers to explore the Missouri River, and find, if 
they could, an access to the sea by the Columbia. This party 
left St. Louis in the month of March, 1804, under Captain 
Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark. They re- 
turned with the news of their own success, from the Pacific 
Ocean, in 1807. They were the first white men who are known 
to have crossed from ocean to ocean, within the present limits 
of the United States, from the time of the wretched Spanish 
slaves to whose story we owe the expedition of Coronado in 
1546, and afterward the establishment of Santa Fe, Mean- 
while the rapid progress of emigration westward was building 
towns which became cities, and was creating States. In 
rapid succession Ohio and Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
Alabama, and Mississippi were added to the Union. It was 
now that the great invention by Fulton, of an easy and simple 
method of propelling vessels by steam, changed all the aspects 
of western settlement and of American history. 

11 



242 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XXV. 
The Federal Constitution. 

Difficulties of the Confederacy. — Need of Stronger Government. — Western 
Lands. — State Constitutions. — A Convention Called. — Federal Con- 
stitution. 

IN speaking of the development of the West we have re- 
ferred to the government of the Federal Union, and to 
the administrations of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. Our 
narrative now returns to the formation of the Constitution, 
and. to the circumstances of these three " administrations." 
£ From the time when the army disbanded, for four years, till 
the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the country passed 
through a critical period, difficult to describe because, from 
the nature of the case, events went forward almost without 
law. To merchants and men of business these were disas- 
trous years. If their business were in different States, they 
found in one a currency which would not pass in another. 
Each State had its own paper issues, and some had begun to 
coin their own money. If the dealings of merchants were 
with Europe, they met the difficulty that the nation had 
scarcely any commercial treaties. Each State had its own cus- 
tom-houses, and its own rates of duties. Goods which arrived 
at New York paid a duty different from those which arrived at 
New London, and these again a duty different from that at 
Newport, as this differed in turn from that at Boston. Nor 
were the differences as to customs the only differences be- 
tween the States. The nearer States were to each other 
the more difficulties arose ; and it was a local question, 
regarding the fisheries of the Potomac and Chesapeake, which 
led to the meeting which issued the call for the Convention 
that made the Federal Constitution of to-day. 



WESTERN DOMAIN. 243 

Congress found it difficult to maintain a quorum of States, 
yet no act of Congress had even a nominal authority unless a 
majority of all the States had agreed to it. Indeed, it was 
difficult to persuade the best men in the States to take the 
thankless duty involved in a seat in Congress. The States 
made their delegations smaller, for the largest delegation 
gave but one vote. The allowances made for attendance 
were insignificant and inefficient. As a consequence, though 
some of the best men in the nation attended in turn as a 
sort of patriotic duty, no man attended for a long period. 

Yet Congress had in hand matters of the very first impor- 
tance. They ill brooked delay; but, to the misfortune of the 
co-untry, delay was sometimes inevitable. / 

First of all, as it has proved, in importance, was the system 
to be adopted in treating the immense national domain of 
lands unsettled. The dominion of what were familiarly called 
Western Lands had gradually been ceded to Congress by the 
States which held them under their charters. This cession 
was in itself an act of high patriotism which shows how the 
national idea began to gain, in mere petty colonial or provin- 
cial politics. The claims of the seaboard States, under their 
charters, were in some cases in conflict with each other. 
Massachusetts had a grant of a strip from ocean to ocean 
as wide as her territory on the Atlantic. Connecticut had a 
grant somewhat similar. New York had a claim vast in extent 
and undefined. 

Settlers from Virginia had already taken possession of Ken- 
tucky, and from North Carolina men had gone into Ten- 
nessee, However their problem of government was to be 
solved, it was a different problem from that of the North- 
west, as men began to call the region west of Pennsylvania 
and north of the Ohio. The reader must remember that the 
nation, by treaty, was bounded on the west by the Mississippi. 
For the north-western territory different plans were proposed, 
which finally took form in the ordinance of 1787. This or- 
dinance, drawn by Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, included 
an article prepared by Jefferson, in an earlier draft, and forever 



244 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

excluded human slavery from the territory or from the States 
to be drawn from it. 

The policy of Congress with regard to the sale of these lands 
varied. It granted considerable tracts, as military grants, to 
officers or soldiers of the army who were willing to take such 
payment for their services. It was always open to proposals 
from speculators. Congress was sadly in want of money, and 
an offer of money from some land speculator, who could really 
pay it, would tempt Congress to almost any sale. But Con- 
gress and speculators were beginning to learn the lesson, which 
the princes and statesmen of Europe learn so slowly, that land 
is of no more value than water, unless men and women in- 
habit it, or want it. The companies found it harder to obtain 
settlers than to obtain land. If the government could have 
protected settlers in the West against the formidable Indian 
tribes it would have the better reason for fixing the price for 
the land it sold to them. But the army which Congress had 
kept after the treaty of peace was but a handful of men, and 
it was clear enough that the settlers in the North-west must 
rely chiefly on their own protection against savages, as the 
settlers in Kentucky had done before them. 

Companies were formed of men who moved together and 
supported each other. Manasseh Cutler, a minister of Mas- 
sachusetts, formed such a company, and obtained a grant in 
south-eastern Ohio, where they planted the settlement of Mari- 
etta, named in honor of Marie Antoinette. The State of 
Connecticut had reserved a considerable tract on Lake Erie, 
which is still known as the " Western Reserve." This region 
was mostly filled by men and women from Connecticut. The 
movement westward attracted men in every eastern State, and 
while the leaders in society, almost without exception, frowned 
on the emigration, and even prophesied ruin to the country 
from its effect on the Atlantic States, the people of America, 
which has always been wiser than its governors, understood the 
present and the future, and used the virgin soil of the West just 
so far as it was useful to it. The settlers asked no help; they 
prepared to defend themselves; and so new States were created. 



EMIGRATION. 245 

Massachusetts made liberal grants in Maine to her soldiers. 
The counties of Knox and Lincoln retain the names of the 
generals who established themselves there, with some follow- 
ing of the men they had commanded. The fertile valleys of 
Vermont, which established itself as a State, received enthu- 
siastic settlers from the older States of New England. New 
York made large grants to foreign purchasers within her west- 
ern domains, themselves as large as many a European princi- 
pality. In Pennsylvania the climate was tempting to men 
from Europe, and that State, more than any other, still pre- 
serves the traditions of new Outopias, founded by one and 
another school of religion or politics, each of which was to 
be an example of reconstructed society. Such a dream, 
now attempted, was the " pantisocracy" which Coleridge and 
Southey proposed on the Susquehanna, and in such colonies 
Talleyrand, and Volney, and Chateaubriand had some of 
their early experiences. General Pickering took his family 
from Massachusetts to Wyoming in a colony which was to 
build up the deserted ruins left by the massacre commanded 
by Butler. 

In Virginia, Washington himself used his great influence in 
improving the water communication with the valley of the 
Ohio. He attempted again the enterprises, of which his boy- 
hood saw the beginning, for introducing emigration beyond 
the Alleghany Mountains. In his large correspondence with 
Europe, the subject of European emigration was often alluded 
to. But though several religious communities and many men 
of education crossed the ocean to America, led largely by the 
attractions of the new dreams of a new social order, there 
was no such wave of westward emigration as has distinguished 
the last forty years. That belonged to commercial conditions 
which did not yet exist. From North Carolina, settlers had 
already crossed the mountain, who formed the State, already 
independent, which we call Tennessee. Its early history has 
been told already in another chapter. 
/ The rapid development of the physical resources of the 
country was seriously arrested by the inability of the Conti- 



246 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

nental Congress to carry out any national policy. It at- 
tempted to cope with the financial difficulty, by persuading 
the maritime States to agree on one impost, the same for all. 
But, first. Congress found it hard to agree itself; second, it 
found itself impotent to persuade. Meanwhile, however, men 
of affairs, men who had traveled abroad, and men who had 
served in the army, knew that these thirteen States, almost at 
war with each other in their jarring policies, might be a na- 
tion. Such men knew that the time might come when the 
"United States" should be spoken of in the singular number. 
Every failure in the unsystematic course of four years of na- 
tional conflict was dwelt on by such men, and, at the end 
of four wretched years, even the large body of the people, 
who at first, perhaps, were indifferent to the hopes for a na- 
tional unity, felt that some effort for it must be made. 

It is now interesting to see that the first practical measure 
in this direction was led by Washington himself. The diffi- 
culties which have been alluded to, as to the navigation and 
fisheries of the Potomac and the Chesapeake, became so seri- 
ous as to require the attention of the governments of the 
States adjoining those waters. A commission was appointed 
by Virginia to meet a similar commission from Maryland. 
Of this commission Washington was the chief. Indeed, in 
his own home, at Mt. Vernon, he was almost the eye-witness 
of the controversies involved. This commission, fortunately 
for the United States and for mankind, did not satisfy itself 
with the attempt to adjust a local quarrel. Clearly enough, 
indeed, the local quarrel could not be adjusted without refer- 
ence to the rights of navigators and fishermen from other 
States. Before its adjournment it recommended a convention 
of all the States, to consider the possibilities and the methods 
of a closer union and of a stronger national government. 
Washington, and other men who saw the need of such a gov- 
ernment, used all their power in their own and other States 
to secure such a convention. They obtained, with some 
difficulty, a vote of the Congress of the Confederation, al- 
ready dying, to give to it such poor authority as that body 



STATE GOVERNMENTS. 247 

had. And at last, delegates from twelve States, more than the 
number proposed in the call to give validity to its proceed- 
ings, met in Philadelphia on the 25th of May, 1787. 

Mr. Gladstone says: "The American Constitution is, so 
far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a 
given time by the brain and purpose of man." 

Before we record its work, however, it will be necessary to 
state briefly what progress the different States had made in 
the work of establishing governments for themselves. 

At the instance of Massachusetts, the Continental Congress, 
even before the Declaration of Independence, had recom- 
mended and authorized the several colonies to take steps for 
the proper ordering of their civil government. The Massa- 
chusetts statesmen were very desirous that this recommenda- 
tion should be as strong as possible ; that is, that it should 
claim as much power as Congress would venture to claim. 
For they were very desirous that the people of a State should 
not feel, whenever uneasy, that they could unmake the gov- 
ernment they had made. 

Acting under this request or authority, the several States, 
so soon as their royal governors fled from them, established 
constitutions of government generally after one model. A 
short letter written by John Adams, in 1776, furnished the 
principles of almost all these constitutions, and they have 
served as the basis of all the American constitutions ever 
since ; and, indeed, of the written constitutions of Spanish 
America and of Europe, made since then. Resting on the 
distinctions carefully drawn by Montesquieu, in a book then 
recent, between the executive, the legislative and the judicial 
authority, Mr. Adams's suggestions provided for a radical 
and almost complete separation between the men who had in 
hand these functions of government. So far as possible, 
they were to be independent of each other. The men who 
made laws were not to execute them, nor were they to try the 
criminals who broke them. Further than this, Mr. Adams's 
scheme provided for a division of the legislative power so 
that it should be held by two houses. This division had for 



248 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

authority the well-known and successful division between the 
House of Lords and the House of Commons in England. 
What would be quite as important in Mr. Adams's mind, as it 
should have been, was the successful arrangement for legis- 
lative powers in the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and in most 
of the other colonies, of a House of Delegates representing 
the people, acting with a smaller council of persons more 
closely connected with the executive. In Massachusetts this 
council was named " at large," as we now say, with no neces- 
sary reference to the residence of the members. It was also 
a fit representation of the men of property of the colony. 

From new-born States, most of whom had such constitu- 
tions, the new convention met. Some of the States had varied 
from the general type, in their constitutions. Thus in Penn- 
sylvania, in obedience, probably, to a favorite opinion of 
Franklin's, there was at that time but one legislative body. 
In general, the people had had the experience for a few 
years of their new constitutions. And in all instances, as tli-e- 
reader knows, there had been some local government from 
an early period in the colonial history. 

All these States had exercised sovereign power. This 
power had been conceded since 1783; it had been claimed 
and generally had existed since 1776. The new Convention, 
then, had before it two difficult tasks — first, of separating na- 
tional powers in government from local powers, and then of 
persuading or compelling the thirteen States, if it could, to 
accept its theory of separation, and to concede to the central 
government the powers needed for national administration. 

It may be doubted whether the duty of the Convention was 
thus clearly apprehended by most of the people who united 
willingly enough in the choice of the members. But the 
members themselves proved to understand it much better 
than some of the leaders of opinion had feared, for the law 
of selection had done its work. Men who did not want a 
strong national government had not come to the Convention. 
They had distrusted it, and, generally speaking, had kept 
away from it. Generally speaking, the men who had come 



FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 249 

were men who believed that there should be a nation, and 
that that nation should have the powers of a nation. 

In answering the great question which had till then never 
been put, far less answered, " What are national duties, as 
distinct from those of local government ? " the Convention 
made these decisions : 

The nation is to take charge of all foreign relations with 
civilized nations or savages. 

It insures peace and republican government to the con- 
stituent States. 

It regulates commerce between them, their currency and 
their mails. 

It secures equal justice between citizens of different States, 
and each citizen has the same rights as another in all parts 
of the nation." 

For the rest, each State provides for its citizens or the citi- 
zens of the United States within its own borders. Their rights, 
their health, their education, their roads, their religion, are its 
concern. No other State can interfere in its arrangements 
for these, nor can the United States. But, by some great 
exceptions from this theory, the Constitution provided that 
there should be no State religion in any State and no order of 
nobility. The people who made it had determined that the 
governments should be republican, and they acted on the 
principle that a religious hierarchy or a political aristocracy 
would break up republican government. 

In the Convention less difficulty was found, probably, than 
had been feared, as to the possibility of making a strong 
central government. Two difficulties did present themselves 
of a most serious character. The one was the jealousy on 
the part of the small States of the possible tyranny of the 
larger. Men remembered that in the German empire the 
House of Austria had arrogated all the imperial powers for 
more than two centuries. The other was the jealousy be- 
tween the commercial States of the north and the Southern 
States, which were mostly agricultural. The Northern 
States were indifferent to the institution of slavery. The 
11* 



250 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Southern States conceived it necessary for their prosperity. 
Should Negro slaves, who gave no votes, be counted as if 
they were citizens who voted .'' This question was one which 
presented itself in every decision as to the fundamental 
bases of the Constitution. 

The decision of the first of these questions was arrived at 
gradually, as the different sections of the Convention felt 
their power. It continued in existence, practically, the old 
Confederate Congress in the Senate. But each State was 
now restricted to sending two delegates to the Senate, and 
these delegates, if they chose, might neutralize the vote of the 
State by voting in opposition to each other. In the election 
of President, also, a small State was to have a larger pro- 
portional power than a large one, for each State, however small 
its population, had at least three electors of a President. The 
arrangement thus made put an end, forever, to all jealousy 
between large States and small, and none has ever appeared 
in American politics. 

The questions in regard to slavery, were adjusted by com- 
promises which were not so fortunate. But, until the year 
1820, they gave a sufficiently easy method of living in com- 
mon, to admit of political action on subjects not closely 
connected with slavery. It was agreed that in assessing na- 
tional taxes, levied on the States by the nation, only three 
fifths of the assessed value of Negro slaves should be taxed. 
On the other hand, in the estimate of population for the 
return of members of Congress, or in the choice of the 
President, only three fifths of their number should be counted. 
Congress was not to have power to suppress the African slave 
trade for twenty years. This consideration was thought 
necessary, that the newer States toward the south might re- 
ceive a proper share of laborers. It proved of more impor- 
tance than was supposed. 

After eager, and sometimes bitter, discussions, which took 
place in closed doors, without the presence of general spec- 
tators, the Constitution was made public. It provided for its 
own amendment by articles which two thirds of the legis- 



CONSTITUTION ADOPTED. 25 I 

latures of the States approved. But it did not propose to 
take its authority from the legislatures. A very important 
claim in the theory of the men who made it, was, that it was 
the work of the people of the United States. It begins with 
the words, " We, the people of the United States." 

It was to be accepted, if at all, by conventions of the peo- 
ple in at least nine States. From September 17, 1787, when 
the members of the Convention signed it, until late in the sum- 
mer of 1788, was a period of great anxiety and intense in- 
terest. In almost every State an opposition to it appeared. 
Merely local politicians almost inevitably, from the law of 
their being, opposed it. Pure theorists could then, as they can 
now, find many points where it is open to attack. In differ- 
ent States the opposition took different grounds. It may, per- 
haps, be said, that the small States voted for it more cordially, 
because it gave them much more than their shares, if the de- 
cision went by a democratic appeal to numbers. In the large 
States, as it happened, of New York, Massachusetts, Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia, the opposition was most bitter. This 
was, perhaps, from the underlying feeling in these States each 
that it could stand by itself. A happy suggestion in Massa- 
chusetts gave an excuse for the more moderate of the oppo- 
sition to acquiesce in its trial, so to speak, as an experiment. 
It was suggested that ten amendments, to be accepted as soon 
as possible, should be drawn, which might serve as a sort of 
" Bill of Rights," guarding the endangered powers of the 
States. These ten amendments were drawn, and, as proposed, 
were adopted, and have since proved not unimportant parts of 
the instrument. With these amendments, which underwent 
a new handling in Virginia, it was assented to in these two 
States, then the largest in the nation. One State more was 
necessary. The friends of union in the South rejoiced when 
they heard that North Carolina had made the Union a cer- 
tainty. In the North a like joy was felt at the accession of 
New Hampshire, while the decision of North Carolina was 
not known. The news from the North met that from the 
South in Baltimore. With great joy the acceptance of the 



{ 



252 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Constitution, which was the real birth of the nation, was 
made sure. John Adams, who was in England when it was 
made, wrote to an English friend when it was accepted : "We 
have made a Constitution which will keep us from cutting 
each other's throats for a few years longer." j 

The arrangements for the first election were made at once. 
It took place in November, 1788. The electors, of course, 
chose George Washington as the first President of the na- 
tion. For the Vice-Presidency, their votes were divided. 

At that time no popular nominations were formally made 
for these posts. There was a certain measure of doubt on 
whom the second choice would fall, until the electoral col- 
leges met and made their decision. It then appeared that 
Washington was the unanimous choice of the electors. He 
had 69 electoral votes ; Adams had 34 ; next to him 
was Jay, of New York, who had 9. At the election four 
years afterward, Washington had 132 votes, and Adams, 77 ; 
George Clinton, of New York, had 50, and Jefferson, 4. 

Some form of national government was necessary, and this 
a strong and popular form. But the People of America is, 
as Mr. Garfield well said, always wiser than any one man of 
the people. The People was working out the steps by which 
the future fortunes of America were to be guided, without 
the least assistance or direction from the men who supposed 
they were the leaders of the country. Such has been the 
great lesson of the history of the first hundred years of the 
United States. While its people always take an intense in- 
terest in political discussions, its real progress and prosperity 
go forward, in a certain sense, independent of political dis- 
cussion. They have often been thwarted by the ignorance 
or timidity of men who had political power; but the sug- 
gestions of advance and the real improvements have come 
from men who are supposed to be private men, and thought 
so themselves. 



WASHINGTON'S CABINET. 253 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

"Washington's Presidency. 

Inauguration — Cabinet — First and Second Congresses — Hamilton's Plans 
— Jefferson's and Randolph's — The War Department — St. Clair 
and Wayne — Foreign Politics— Genet in America — England and 
America — Jay's Treaty — Ratification of Treaties. 

THE inauguration of the new President and the begin- 
ning of the new government were fixed to take place 
on the 4th of March, 1789, if a quorum of the new Congress 
then assembled. It is, however, a curious illustration of the 
indifference of the country to matters in which it now takes 
interest so intense, that it was the end of April before a suffi- 
cient number of the Senate and the House assembled for 
the purposes of the formal inauguration. The inauguration 
took place in the city of New York, where the Convention 
had arranged that the government should go into operation. 
Congress met immediately, and so soon as the several secre- 
taries were appointed to the departments of War, of the 
Treasury and of State, frequent communication between the 
Executive and Congress began. Jefferson was at the head of 
the Department of State, Hamilton at the head of the Treas- 
ury, Knox was Secretary of War, and Randolph, of Virginia, 
Attorney General. These four made the first Cabinet. It 
was only afterward that the Department of the Navy was 
separated from that of War, and the Department of the 
Interior from that of State. 

The first and second Congresses, those which served dur- 
ing Washington's first term, did an amount of work for the 
nation which it would be impossible to describe within the 
pages of this history. First of all in its importance was the 
funding of the national debt, which was done under the skill- 



254 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ful directions of Hamilton. He had shown courage and 
resource in the field, and it is clear that, whatever fame he 
acquired in the Cabinet, to the end of his life he looked upon 
himself as a soldier. He had, however, been trained early 
to mercantile affairs. He was a lawyer in good practice in 
the city of New York ; and he brought to the administra- 
tion of the Treasury Department certain distinct principles 
which gave to that administration great success. " He 
caught the drowning credit of America by the locks, and 
dragged it into life." The plans which Hamilton made for 
funding the debt, and for a regular income to be derived 
from foreign customs, met at the time with terrible opposi- 
tion, as he met with terrible obloquy. There were in New 
York enough stock-jobbers already, willing to make money 
on every improvement in the national credit, for men easily 
to charge motives of fraud upon every person who voted to 
improve the credit of the government. All the charges 
made against such men have long since been forgotten, and 
this is not the place to renew them. It may be remembered, 
however, as a warning to the politicians of this day, that, to 
establish the credit of America upon that firm basis of which 
all Americans are so proud, every man who voted for the 
measures which were taken had to pass through a daily fire 
of accusations of treason. 

The arrangements for the Judiciary, made under the 
direction of Randolph and of Jefferson, have proved to be 
equally wise. They have been enlarged often between that 
period and this, but the execution of law, as far as it falls to 
national tribunals, is now substantially the same as it was at 
the beginning. 

The War Department had to consider difficult questions 
with the drawback of great jealousy on the part of the whole 
country to any large establishment. Its first experiment was 
singularly unsuccessful. In 1791 the condition of affairs at 
the west was such as to make it necessary that the nation 
should assert itself. St. Clair, who had served in the Revo- 
lution, was sent into the valley of the Ohio at the head of a 



ANTHONY WAYNE. 255 

force supposed to be sufficient to suppress the Indians. In 
point of fact he was surprised, half his army was killed, and 
the rest fled, St. Clair not the last of the fugitives. The 
whole loss amounted to six hundred and seventy-seven who 
were killed, and two hundred and seventy-one who were 
wounded. The campaign was ended for that year. Anthony 
Wayne was then appointed to succeed St. Clair. He was 
the " Mad Anthony " of the Revolution who stormed Stony 
Point so successfully. In the spring of 1794, he led a 
second expedition with judgment and prudence, which has 
ever since acquitted him of the charge of madness. The 
result was a complete defeat of the Indians on the Miami, 
which proved decisive, f'rom that time to this those strong 
tribes have never seriously injured the settlers among them. 
Wayne made a treaty with them on the 7th of August, 1795, 
and returned amid the acclamations of the people almost in 
a triumphal entry. 

Foreign politics took a much larger place in the discus- 
sions of Congress and of the executive than is granted to 
them in our times. The whole condition of Europe was dis- 
orderly. The French republicans had killed their king in 
1793, and the queen's death followed. The war with all 
continental Europe and England followed, which wholly 
deranged the commerce of Europe, and, almost of necessity, 
involved neutral states in controversy. With France the 
United States was closely bound. As the reader knows, the 
treaties of America with France in the Revolution were 
offensive and defensive. America was bound to sustain the 
quarrel of France against any foreign enemy. The new 
nation had no wish to go into the general contest which now 
occupied the world. Of all men in America, Washington 
was most determined that she should not be involved in such 
confusion. On the other hand, the new government of 
France, which was seeking and making republican alliances 
all through Europe, was very little satisfied with an ally like 
America, which did not come to its assistance when it was 
in need although it had founded republican government for 



256 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

itself. From the cross purposes, natural enough in such a 
condition of things, there sprang confusion and even con- 
test. The French cruisers constantly seized American ves- 
sels engaged in lawful trade, generally in the West Indies. 
Once and again they insulted American cruisers which had 
been sent out to protect American commerce. 

The French sent Genet as an envoy to America, who, 
with the same arrogance which had characterized the envoys 
of the French republic in Europe, addressed public assem- 
blies in the large cities, and affected to be the adviser in 
government of the nation to which he was commissioned. 
The American government would not brook such imperti- 
nence, and demanded and obtained his recall. Meanwhile, 
every phase of the conflict between England and France was 
reflected in the American seaboard cities. Thus the French 
frigate Ambuscade was challenged by the English frigate 
Boston to a naval duel off New York, She had the advan- 
tage, and was received on her return from the battle with 
wild enthusiasm by the populace. The waves of opinion ran 
backward and forward. The government, which was deter- 
mined to keep an equal hand in such contests, was now 
abused and now high in popular favor. 

With England the relations of America were quite as com- 
plicated as those with France. The identity of language and 
the relationships of birth naturally made the Americans the 
customers of England for the manufactures of Europe ; and 
the habits of a hundred and fifty years tended in the direc- 
tion of a close commerce between the nations. But, on the 
other hand, there were scarcely twenty miles of sea coast 
which had not been ravaged by the English army or the 
English navy. All the old sentimental love of home had 
vanished, and the Englishman of that day was as thoroughly 
hated by the American as ever was a Spaniard hated by an 
Englishman of Hawkins's fleet. All the efforts of France 
and of the American, diplomatists in France had been 
directed toward creating a direct trade between France and 
the new-born States. Still England held the northern front- 



jay's treaty. 257 

ier of America. Some treaty of commerce with England 
was necessary. America supplied the West India colonies 
with their food. Among the early endeavors of the govern- 
ment, therefore, was the negotiation of a treaty of commerce 
which should regulate the transactions of commerce between 
the nations. 

This treaty was made by John Jay, a statesmen of great 
purity and wide intelligence. It happened to return to 
America for ratification at the moment when the popular 
enthusiasm in favor of France was at the highest, and when 
the English scale happened to be very low. The question of 
ratification became, therefore, a very bitter party question 
between the friends of England and the friends of France. 
The old advocates of a strong government generally took up 
the English side, while the advocates of strong State govern- 
ments took up the French side. It was only after a battle 
of which our modern politics give hardly an idea that the 
treaty, with some modifications, was ratified by the Senate. 
Of the detail of the diplomacy in this and other treaties, 
some account will be given in a separate chapter. 

In the ratification of all the early treaties some questions 
arose which are open questions to this day. The Constitu- 
tion provides that treaties must be ratified by the Senate, and 
seems to give to that body the power of ratification. But 
the same Constitution provides that the House of Represen- 
tatives shall originate all " money bills," meaning all pro- 
posals for expenditure. If, then, a treaty requires any 
expenditure, even of a small sum, may the Senate ratify it 
without consulting the House of Representatives on the sub- 
ject of that expenditure ? This question has again and 
again arisen between the two houses of Congress. It will 
readily be seen that though the President may call an extra 
session of the Senate for the purpose of confirming a treaty, 
the Senate's power of ratification might be seriously abridged. 

Washington left office at a time when the extreme politi- 
cians and the journals under their command were disposed 
to vilify even him because he gave so little countenance to 



258 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

their extravagant plans. But the people of the countrj'' 
never failed m their enthusiastic love of him. When he 
retired, in 1797, he issued a farewell address to the American 
nation which has always been regarded as one of the central 
documents in the study of American politics. Its advice to 
his American countrymen, that they should abstain from 
entangling alliances with the powers of the Old World, was 
founded upon the experiences of his own administration, and 
has since been observed almost as if its suggestions were an 
integral part of the national Constitution. 

We will now turn from the limited order of the presiden- 
tial administrations to trace the steps of progress which the 
people of the United States made as soon as it found that 
the national government was secure. 



GAINS IN PROSPERITY. 259 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Three Steps of Progress. 

Cotton Industiy — Gen. Greene in Georgia — Eli Whitney — Invention of 
the Cotton Gin — Whitney's Life — English Inventions — Maritime Suc- 
cess — North-west Coast — Columbia River — Emigration to the West — 
Fulton's Introduction of the Steamboat. 

WE are now to review the three great steps in the pros- 
perity of the nation in the first fifty years after its 
creation. They were scarcely thought of by the men who 
made the Constitution, and were but scantily provided for in 
that instrument. But they were the direct result of the new 
nationality, and without it each of the three would have been 
impossible. 

These steps in American history are : first, the development 
of the industry in cotton ; second, the commercial pre-emi- 
nence gained by the United States in the half century which 
follows the period of the formation of the Constitution ; and, 
third, the creation of the Western States. 

The first in order of these new steps in national life was 
the astonishing development of the cotton industry. In 1794, 
when Jay's treaty with England was made, so little cotton was 
raised in the United States that none of the negotiators of 
that treaty knew that any was exported. In 1843, fifty years 
after, the cotton crop of the United States was 2,000,000 
bales. The crop of 1885 was 5,700,000 bales. 

The increase came about in this way : 

At the end of the war the new State of Georgia, by way of 
showing its gratitude to Gen. Nathaniel Greene, the victor at 
Eutaw, gave to him a tract of land. Greene, like other gen- 
erals of whom mention has been made already, had to begin 
a new life when he laid down his commission ; and he ac- 



26o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

cepted this gift with the determination to becon^e a citizen 
of Georgia. He removed his family thither in 1784, and 
established a plantation, where he himself died in 1786. In 
the year 1792 Mrs. Greene had been visiting the North, and 
on her return met, as a fellow-passenger in the packet, Eli 
Whitney, a graduate of the last summer from Yale College. 
He was then just twenty-seven years old, and had agreed to 
act as tutor in the family of a Georgian gentleman. When he 
arrived in Georgia, however, he found that other arrange- 
ments had been made, and that he was without a home. It 
was then that he accepted an invitation from Mrs. Greene, 
and became her guest for the rest of the winter, 

A company of her friends were one day discussing the re- 
sources of Georgia, and expressed their regret that no machine 
had been invented which would separate cotton from its seed, 
so that it could be shipped for the English market in compe- 
tition with East Indian cotton, which was laboriously picked 
by hand. Mrs. Greene said that if a machine were to be in- 
vented, Mr. Whitney would invent it, such skill had he shown 
in matters relating to machinery. The problem was stated 
to him. With some difficulty, some cotton still in the boll 
was obtained from Savannah. There was none in the neigh- 
borhood of the plantation, and Mr. Whitney had never seen 
any. He applied himself at once to the invention required. 
He succeeded, and so soon, that before the summer was over 
he had completed working models of the cotton-gin which 
afterward bore his name. He and his companions in the 
adventure were among the first of the inventors who claimed 
the benefit of the patent law of the new nation. His first 
patent was issued to him in March, i793- 

Such is the brief history of a great invention, which was 
destined to change the history of America, and, indeed, of 
the world. It should interest young men to remember that it 
was the invention of a young man in the first year after he 
left college. 

Whitney went to Connecticut to establish a factory, and 
did so. It is a pity that we must add that various piratical 



RISE OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 261 

inventors did their best to take from him the profit of his 
great invention. Indeed, that invention itself, while it changed 
the fortune of the country, brought very little profit to Eli 
Whitney. The United States afterward employed him as a 
manufacturer of muskets, but the surreptitious inventions of 
cotton-gins borrowed from his own were such that, up till his 
death, he received nothing from his patent until it expired 
in the year 1807. He lived till the year 1825, when he died 
sixty years old. At that time the cotton States produced 
three quarters of a million bales ; at this time the production 
is nearly seven millions of bales ; and this enormous increase 
was all due to the invention of this machine. 

During the same period the English manufacturers were 
improving the machinery with which they worked the fiber 
which America was producing for their hands. Every time 
that trade with England was stopped, as by the war of 181 2, 
American manufacturers attempted the same inventions. The 
necessities of America for cotton cloth could not be left to 
the accidents of blockades or the exigencies of war. At the 
end of the War of 181 2 this industry was so largely established, 
and it was so evidently in the interest of the cotton-growing 
States that it should be maintained, that, with the approval 
of Mr. Calhoun, who represented those States, a strong pro- 
tective duty gave assistance to the American manufacturers. 
From that time they have been the competitors of Europe in 
a manufacture so necessary for the comfort of the world. It 
is said that England conquered Napoleon by the wealth which 
she accumulated in the manufacture of cotton. This wealth 
was largely due to the change in American agriculture which 
we have named as the first of the three great powers which 
were active in the creation of the United States, as we know 
that nation to-day. 

So soon as a firm national government gave opportunity 
for safe investment in commercial enterprise, the maritime 
adventure of the new nation increased with marvelous rapid- 
ity. The men of New England inherit a passion for the sea 



262 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

from their Kentish, Danish, and Norse ancestry. Scarcely 
were they established in Plymouth, in Massachusetts Bay, 
and on the shores of New Hampshire and Maine, before they 
began to build ships. They found that the timber of their 
forests served them well for this purpose. There were no 
better harbors in the world than those where they were settled. 
The fisheries of the neighboring coasts provided them with 
food and gave them an article of ready commerce. Before two 
generations were passed the New Englanders were furnishing 
salted fish to the Lenten days of every Catholic country in 
Europe. They were providing the West Indies and Bahamas 
with food which those islands did not easily furnish. They 
brought back sugar, molasses, and the silver of their coinage. 
Before the end of the century they had learned that they 
could build cheaper and better ships than could be built in 
England. De Foe, who was well acquainted with the course 
of commerce, makes Robinson Crusoe propose, in 1694, to 
steer for Boston harbor for repairs; and before the year 1700 
Lord Bellomont, the governor, reported to the English gov- 
ernment that the province of Massachusetts had more tons of 
shipping afloat than had all Scotland and Ireland together. 

The reader has seen how extensive was the privateering 
force of these States while the war lasted. So soon as it was 
over the enterprising men who had been obliged to satisfy 
themselves in adventure, chiefly warlike, turned to distant 
navigation, as well as to the commerce to which the English 
navigation laws had confined them. 

Burke had spoken at the beginning of the war with enthu- 
siastic praise of the wealth which " they drew from both 
oceans by their fisheries." He meant the northern and the 
southern Atlantic. As soon as they had direct freedom of 
trade with all the world, the merchants of Salem and Boston 
tried the adventure of the Pacific, and pushed so far as the 
north-west coast, then just known to men by the explorations 
of Cooke and Clerke, Vancouver and Krusenstern. La 
Perouse visited the same coast in 1787, at the beginning of 
his unfortunate and mysterious voyage. 



EARLY TRADE. 263 

In the year 1792, Captain Gray, in the ship Columbia 
Rediviva, sailing from Boston, discovered the great river to 
which he gave the name of Columbia, from his ship, a name 
which it bears to this day. The voyage was one in a trade 
which the New England merchants had devised, and which 
they long continued with success. Vessels with hardware such 
as savages need, and gew-gaws such as they prize, went direct 
from New England around the Island of Terra del Fuego, or 
through the Straits of Magellan, to the north-western coast of 
America. Here the captains sold their wares to the Indians, 
receiving in return the skins of those regions, which the In- 
dians soon learned to have ready for the white men. It was 
then an easy voyage to China, where, by a second exchange, 
the furs produced cargoes of teas, silk, ginger, and other 
Chinese goods, which were then brought back by the Indian 
Ocean and the Cape of Good Hope for the supply of the 
markets of the world. 

To merchants engaged in this trade — in the older trade in 
fish and oil — in the building of ships for sale in European 
ports — the complications of European war soon offered 
advantages which, even in 1783, the most sanguine did not 
dream of. So soon as France was arrayed against the world, 
the merchandize which she needed from abroad could scarcely 
be brought to her in her own vessels, so great was the danger 
of capture. Vessels of England, or her other enemies, were, 
of course, refused entrance to her ports. When Spain was 
allied to her, or Italy or Holland, the condition of those 
countries was the same. The commerce of the European 
world thus fell largely into the hands of "neutrals." Of the 
neutral powers America was by far the largest, in a maritime 
view, or that which had most ships and seamen. American 
maritime commerce thus received an unexpected bounty. 
The ship which sailed from Boston, or New York, or Balti- 
more, perhaps never returned there. She was engaged in 
lucrative voyages from one port of Europe to another. Thus, 
the captain sailed, perhaps, with a cargo of tobacco for Nantes. 
At Nantes he might take wines for Liverpool, to which port 



264 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

no French merchantman could go. At Liverpool he could 
take English hardware to Italy, to whose ports no English 
merchantman could go. From Italy he took oil to St. 
Petersburg. From St. Petersburg he took hemp to the 
Spanish dock-yards. Thus for year after year he might 
continue in the European seas in what came to be known as 
" the carrying trade." Some of his crew remained with him, 
perhaps all. The places of those who left him were easily 
supplied, and from time to time he remitted to the owners of 
his ship his accounts of their joint successes, and the drafts, 
which were the profits, which were invested in the building of 
new vessels for the like uses. As the commerce of European 
ports suffered more and more under the Continental War, the 
commerce of America improved, excepting at those periods 
which are described in another chapter, when the rulers of 
America joined in the European complications. 

The third of the great movements of the American people, 
which it conducted for itself, without guidance or assistance 
from the national government, was the emigration by which 
it possessed the States then called Western, which now divide 
the States of the Atlantic from those of the Pacific. Of this 
emigration some account is given in another chapter of this 
book. It can hardly be said to have been organized, though 
sometimes a considerable party moved together. Single 
families, single men, emigrated as they chose, when they 
chose, and where they chose. For a generation the move- 
ment was looked upon with doubt by the more prominent 
politicians. But the People was wiser than its leaders. After 
the great invention of the steamboat had been successfully 
tried by Fulton, the value of the great western region was 
felt by all men for the first time. 



FOREIGN RELATIONS. 265 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The Early Diplomacy of the United States. 

"Jay's Treaty" — Questions Left Unsettled by the Treaty of Peace — With- 
drawal of Negroes and Garrisons Left in North-western Posts — States 
Unwilling to Carry Out the Recommendations of Congress — Difficulty 
in Obtaining Favorable Terms for Commerce with England — No Un- 
divided Front in America — French and English Sympathizers — Im- 
pressment of American Seamen — Complications Caused by War 
Between France and England — Jay Makes What Terms he Can — His 
Treaty Unpopular, but Prevents War — Negotiations with Spain — 
Free Navigation of the Mississippi Desired — Florida Boundary Ques- 
tions — Tedious Negotiations — Pinckney's Treaty with Godoy — France 
Our First Ally — Early Treaties with that Power — Difficulties Caused 
by the War of 1793— American Desire for Neutrality — French Dis- 
satisfaction Caused by Washington's Infractions of Treaties — Munroe 
Sent to France — French Indignation at Jay's Treaty — Tortuous 
Course of Negotiations — Preparations for War — One More Attempt 
for Peace — Negotiations with the First Consul— Friendly Footing 
Obtained — A Fortunate Neutrality. 

IT will be more convenient to our readers to consider at 
once the details of the treaties which have been alluded 
to, the negotiation of which sometimes covers a long period 
of years. 

An understanding of the main lines of the foreign rela- 
tions of the United States during the first few years of the 
country's existence is most necessary to an appreciation of 
the state of the country during that period. The subject is 
one that can be presented only in the broadest manner in the 
space at our command. There are, however, certain principal 
topics, a clear statement of which will do much toward giv- 
ing a correct view. 

The first of these is the treaty with England negotiated 
by John Jay in 1794, which commonly goes by the name of 
*' Jay's Treaty." 
12 



266 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

At the close of the Revolutionary War there were various 
questions between the United States and England which 
seemed fit subjects for negotiation. The Treaty of Peace had 
announced the independence of the United States, but it had 
not contained a settlement of certain questions sure to arise. 
And even out of the treaty itself arose matters which it 
seemed would be productive of trouble. In the seventh 
article of that treaty it had been agreed that " His Britannic 
Majesty shall, with all convenient speed and without causing 
any destruction, or carrying away any Negroes or other prop- 
erty of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, 
garrisons, and fleets from the said United States, and from 
every port, place, and harbor within the same." It was an 
infraction of this article that the English armies should liave 
carried away with them on their withdrawal from New York 
a large number of Negro slaves, the property of Americans, 
and also that the English Government should refuse to with- 
draw the garrisons from the frontier posts of Michilimack- 
inac, Detroit, Fort Erie, Niagara, Oswego, Oswegatchie, on 
the St. Lawrence, and Port au fer and Dutchman's Point, on 
Lake Champlain, all within the territory acknowledged in 
the treaty to belong to the United States. The first point 
was of great interest to the former owners of the slaves, the 
latter to the whole nation, both because the holding of the 
posts wounded the national pride, and also because it became 
clearer and clearer as each year passed that English agents 
in those posts incited the Indians near by to hostilities toward 
the United States. 

The English were not, however, without some show of right 
in their position. The fourth article of the treaty had de- 
clared, " That creditors on either side shall meet with no law- 
ful impediment to the recovery, at the full value in sterling 
money, of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted." The 
fifth article agreed that " Congress shall earnestly recom- 
mend to the legislatures of the respective States to provide 
for the restitution of all estates," and so forth, which had been 
eonfiscated. Now, the different States had passed laws at 



TREATY QUESTIONS. 267 

various times of such a nature that the collection of debts 
due to Englishmen, existing before the Revolution, had be- 
come either difficult or impossible, and in certain cases had 
shown no disposition to give up confiscated property. Under 
the Articles of Confederation, as the reader knows, Congress 
could only recommend in such cases. As a matter of fact, 
the two articles were practically of no effect. It vvas on this 
account that the British Government refused to carry out the 
seventh article. 

There were other matters, generally in regard to trade, 
which required settlement. At that period commercial mat- 
ters were conducted and regulated by an immense number of 
treaties between the various powers in the world, every power 
desiring to gain for itself exceptional privileges. The mer- 
chants of the United States desired a close commercial alli- 
ance with England. But that power, foreseeing that the com- 
merce of the United States would come to her soon enough 
in natural course, showed no disposition to grant any priv- 
ileges in return for what she could get without. A particular 
desire existed in the United States to be allowed to trade 
with the West Indies, a profitable commerce which had long 
been carried on by the colonies, but which, being denied to 
foreign countries, was closed to the United States when that 
country became independent. There were other questions, 
arising later, Avhich we shall note in their place. 

The views of the two parties in the case must be under- 
stood. England, becoming rapidly involved in continental 
entanglements, showed no desire to offer any thing toward a 
peaceful accommodation of these questions. In case of 
negotiation she had little to gain and much to lose. She pre- 
ferred to leave the questions in statu quo. In case of war she 
had every thing to gain and nothing to lose. It is easy to see that 
negotiation on these terms was difficult. The American 
States, on the other hand, were by no means at unity among 
themselves. The slaveholders cared for the stolen Negroes ; 
the seaport towns cared for the British commerce and th& 
West India trade ; the west cared more particularly about 



268 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the evacuation of the posts. There was no undivided front. 
In other ways the country was divided. There was a large 
party who believed in France as an ally. They were averse 
to any concessions to Great Britain, and believed that the 
United States would find its true interest in seeking a close 
connection with that power which had enabled her to gain 
her independence. Another party, having a sincere sympathy 
with English principles, and a true love and admiration for 
that country which had so long been a mother, though a harsh 
one, to America, considered that an alliance with Great 
Britain was of more value than any other foreign connection. 
As England and France were drifting toward war, these two 
factions became more and more bitterly opposed to each 
other. Though neither desired to carry its views to such an 
extent as to involve America in a war on the side of either 
European power, each had a different policy in regard to 
negotiations. 

Through the indifference of England it was with great 
difficulty that any negotiations proceeded at all. John Adams, 
the first minister accredited to the Court of St. James, was 
received in the most cordial manner, but was unable to effect 
any thing. Mr. Hammond, who was sent as minister plen- 
ipotentiary to this country, carried on a dilatory correspond- 
ence with Mr. Jefferson, from which it appeared that England 
was firmly resolved to abate nothing from her position. 

Meanwhile, new matters for difference had arisen. One 
was in regard to English impressment of American seamen. 
The captains of short-handed English cruisers would stop 
American ships and take from them such sailors as they 
required, on the pretense that they were English-born and, 
therefore, still the king's subjects and so liable to impress- 
ment. 

On the breaking out, in 1793, of war between England and 
the French Republic, new matters of dispute arose. Both 
the belligerent powers issued regulations whereby either 
enemy's merchandise, or contraband (in which were included 
provisions) destined for an enemy's port, was declared good 



jay's treaty. 269 

prize when found in neutral vessels. Such a position, by no 
means unusual at that time, resulted disastrously to American 
commerce, for the United States was almost the only 
neutral carrying power at this time. Protest in the matter 
was made, and found useless. 

All these matters required settlement. If they could not 
be settled, war was the only remedy. And for war the United 
States was unprepared. Therefore it is not astonishing that 
the business did not turn out greatly to her advantage. In 
1794 Mr. Jay was appointed to a special mission to negotiate 
a treaty with England. He was of those who held that it 
was to the interest of America to unite more and more closely 
with England. He negotiated a treaty without great difficulty, 
but it was by means of giving up most of the disputed points 
and leaving others unsettled. It is now clear that this was 
the only course that could have been pursued. By this treaty 
it was provided that the northern posts should be evacuated 
in two years' time, that the matter of English debts should be 
referred to a commission, that claims of violation of neutral 
rights should be referred to another, that there should be free 
trade between all the British dominions in Europe and the 
United States, and that the United States should be free to 
pursue the East India trade. The question of compensation 
for the Negroes was dropped ; the question of impressment 
was dropped, as being impossible to settle ; the question of 
the West India trade was settled in such a manner that the 
United States procured a suspension of its terms, so that 
that question was also practically dropped. 

There was a great outcry made in the United States at 
the publication of the treaty, but it was probably the best 
way out of a bad place. It was negotiated by Mr. Jay in 
good faith, and as being the best thing that could be done 
under the circumstances. Certain of the questions which 
were dropped came up for settlement later, as we shall see 
when we reach the war of 1812. 

With Spain no treaty at all had been made at the time of 
the adoption of the Constitution, but there was at least one 



2/0 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

very important question, a question which grew in importance 
day by day. This was in regard to the free navigation of the 
Mississippi River. As the settlers pushed out into the " Great 
West," as Kentucky and Tennessee, and then Ohio, Indiana, 
and Illinois began to be settled, more and more did it become 
apparent that it was necessary that the United States should 
be allowed free navigation of the river from source to ocean. 
At this time, it will be remembered, the Mississippi was 
the western boundary of the United States from its source 
down to the 31st parallel. West of the Mississippi and south 
of the 31st parallel the territory belonged to Spain, and this 
power, owning both banks of the river at New Orleans and 
below, claimed the right to exact such duties at that place as 
seemed to her good. To obtain the free navigation of the 
Mississippi then was one of the main efforts of American 
diplomacy during this period. There were also boundary 
questions in regard to Florida, which need not be exactly 
stated, which were pressed by Spain, and both countries de- 
sired some basis for commercial intercourse. John Jay had, 
during the latter part of the Revolutionary War, resided for 
some time in Spain endeavoring to effect a treaty. After the 
peace, in 1785, he was commissioned by Congress again to 
attempt negotiations with Gardoqui, at that time Charge d'Af- 
faires from Spain in this country. Spain demanded that the 
United States should give up her claim to the freedom of the 
river, and should make some settlement of boundaries. In 
return she was willing to grant large and liberal commercial 
privileges. But Jay was firm so far as the freedom of nav- 
igation was concerned, and no result was reached. For some 
time nothing more was attempted. Mr. Carmichael remained 
at the Court of Spain and received due recognition as Charge 
d'Affaires, but nothing was said of a treaty. In 1790 the state 
of Europe was such that it was probable that a general war 
would ensue, and as it appeared necessary that the United 
States should stand on some firm ground in her relations with 
Spain, a commission was appointed to attempt negotiations 
again in regard to the navigation of the river. The commis- 



SPANISH NEGOTIATIONS. 2/1 

sion was also to touch on the Spanish claims of territory in 
the south, and to request some adjustment of commercial 
matters. 

Not to dwell in detail on the negotiations which continued 
in various hands for several years, the position of the United 
States was always as follows: That in 1763 (when Louisiana 
had been granted to Spain) the free navigation of the river 
had been granted to Great Britain, and in the treaty of peace 
between that power and the United States the latter country 
had been expressly named as being, in respect to the Missis- 
sippi, in the same position which Great Britain had pre- 
viously stood in. It was also held that by the law of nations 
the United States, holding the upper part of the river and 
having such immense territories lying upon it, had, from 
that very fact, a right to free outlet. These positions were 
denied by Spain on very strong grounds, which it would take 
too long to state in detail. 

The commission appointed did not effect any thing. Jay's 
treaty with England, signed in 1794, complicated matters, 
for in the next year a treaty was signed between France and 
Spain, and a treaty between Great Britain and the United 
States was naturally looked upon with displeasure by both 
those powers. Despite this, however, after some delays and 
conversations with the Spanish commissioner in the United 
States, Mr. Thomas Pinckney was appointed minister, and 
negotiation began again. At this time Godoy, afterward 
called " Prince of Peace," was at the head of Spanish affairs, 
and with him Mr. Pinckney succeeded in arranging matters 
so that a treaty was made, October 25th, 1795. The treaty 
was, on the whole, all that the United States could have 
expected to get. The great point was conceded, and the 
Mississippi was free to the citizens of the United States. 
Other questions, as of boundary and certain damages, were 
referred to commissions, and thus placed in a way of friendly 
settlement. Various questions of maritime law were 
arranged in later articles. 

But the treaty, although not unfavorable to the United 



272 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

States, was not very satisfactory to Spain, and various small 
complications of diplomacy continually troubled the relations 
of the two countries, until in the continual changes of Euro- 
pean policy a situation arose which Jefferson seized upon, 
and by a skillful stroke settled the greater number of Spanish 
questions at once. Of these measures the account will be 
lound in another chapter. 

The first power with which the United States had had diplo- 
matic intercourse had been France. Immediately after 
the declaration of independence, when the question of for- 
eign alliances had come up in Congress, France had been, 
for a variety of reasons, the first country to be considered. 
A commission had been sent to that country the same year 
to negotiate an alliance, and fifteen months after their arrival 
the alliance had been arranged. Two treaties, one of alliance 
and one of commerce, had been concluded, as has already 
been related. In addition to these treaties it appeared nec- 
essary that some arrangement should be made in regard to 
the exact establishment of the position of the consuls in the 
various ports of the respective countries. And to this end 
the arranging of a consular convention was begun by Benja- 
min Franklin, in 1782, and carried on for six years, at the end 
of which time it was signed by Thomas Jefferson and the 
Count de Montmorin. But this convention, although its 
faults did not at first appear, proved to be very inconvenient 
on the breaking out of war between France and England in 
1793- Under this convention and the two former treaties, 
Genet, the commissioner of France in America under the 
convention, proceeded to such extravagant lengths in pro- 
ceedings hostile to England that the United States, foreseeing 
that if he were allowed to continue she would infallibly be 
forced into war with England, was constrained to ask his 
recall, which was granted. It was the desire of the United 
States to pursue a neutral policy, and such had been the pur- 
port of the proclamation issued by General Washington at 
the outbreak of hostilities. Indeed, it was impossible that 
America should again embark upon a war without practically 



RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 2/3 

giving up her claims to independence and her standing as a 
"first-rate power. But neutrality seemed incompatible with 
an observance of the treaties with France, treaties which 
had been negotiated under a very different state of things 
from that which in 1793 existed. 

By the treaty of alliance the United States was bound to 
extend certain privileges to France incompatible with a neu- 
tral position, and such as would have infallibly set her at war 
with England. Public opinion was sufficiently on the side 
of France to prevent the abrogation of its treaties, and yet 
war with England was impossible. In such a case a position 
of neutrality required the constant infraction of the treaty. 
To this course Washington committed the United States, 
much to the dissatisfaction of France. There was another 
point. America being neutral, her commerce, as has been 
pointed out, suffered extremely from belligerent operations, 
no less on the part of France than on that of England. 
Such was the position of the two countries through the 
second term of Washington's administration. 

At the time of Jay's mission to England James Monroe 
was sent to France to endeavor to obtain a better under- 
standing between the two nations. He could not accom- 
plish the adjustment of all difficulties, although, being of that 
party in the United States which looked on France with 
more favor than on England, he was able to conciliate the 
temper of the government and arrange some of the points 
of difference. But on the ratification of Jay's treaty the 
French " Directory " were thoroughly enragad. They held 
it to be an act of treachery on the part of the United States, 
recalled their representative in America, and Mr. Monroe 
was also recalled. But as it was necessary that the govern- 
ment should have some representative in France, Mr. Charles 
C. Pinckney was sent to Paris. But he vvas not received by 
the Directory nor even allowed to remain in the city. He 
withdrew to Holland. So affairs went on. A commission 
subsequently appointed could agree upon nothing, and with- 
drew, leaving one of their number to compromise himself by 
12* 



274 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

his relations with the wily Talleyrand. We cannot follow 
the tortuous course of the diplomatic relations, and must be 
content with stating the result. Affairs finally came to such 
a pass, American commerce had suffered so much from 
French depredations, that the country prepared for war. 
Washington was made commander-in-chief. The army and 
navy were increased, and the pre-existing treaties with 
France were by Congress declared void. But it was by no 
means to the interest of the United States to make war, and 
Mr. Adams, as President, resolved on one more attempt at 
negotiation. Mr. Vans Murray, Minister to Holland, was 
joined by Chief Justice Ellsworth and Mr. Davie, and the 
three proceeded to Paris, which they reached in 1800. On 
the 7th of March of that year they were presented to the 
First Consul, and on the 30th of September they signed a con- 
vention together with the French commissioners. 

The convention was managed only as a temporizing act. 
The main questions arising from the treaty of alliance were 
left unsettled. Commercial matters, about which there had 
been no dispute, were reaffirmed, and various matters of 
maritime law which had been in question were arranged 
between the contracting parties. But although nothing of 
great importance was settled war was averted; and that 
was a most important thing when we consider the enormous 
power of France during the following years, and the enormous 
gain which the United States subsequently succeeded in 
making by being on friendly terms with her. For had war 
come on when the Floridas and Louisiana were both pos- 
sessed by European powers, undoubtedly the chances of the 
United States for ultimately acquiring those necessary pos- 
sessions would have been greatly lessened, not to speak of 
the dangerous neighbors they must have been. And although 
troubles with France continued, the convention of 1800 at 
least had the merit of putting off, as it happened, from that 
time to this, the resort to war as a last means of arbitration. 

To the careful observer of the position of the United States 
at the adoption of the Constitution, with reference to the 



ADVANTAGES GAINED. 2/5 

events which convulsed Europe during the twelve years fol- 
lowing, it can hardly fail to appear remarkable that the 
United States, in the condition in which she then was, should 
not have been drawn into complications which could have 
ended only in war. And war at that moment, as is apparent, 
was impossible if the United States was to retain its position 
as a first-rate independent power. It appears, then, remark- 
able that the United States should have been able to retain a 
neutral position for these years, even though she gained 
absolutely nothing. She did, as a matter of fact, gain some- 
thing in each of the three treaties of which we have spoken. 
From Great Britain she gained the evacuation of the north- 
ern posts; an inestimable gain, when we consider the war of 
1812, From Spain she gained the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi; of vast importance in its day, though the brilliancy of 
the concession was dimmed by the acquisition of the whole 
of Louisiana some years later. And from France she vir- 
tually gained release from the hampering provisions of the 
treaty of 1778. 



2/6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Adams, Jefferson and Madison. 

Mr. Adams's Internal Policy — Election of Jefferson — His Inaugiiration — 
Barbary Powers — Burr's Projects — Their Failure — Animosity between 
England and the United States — Mr. Madison Compelled to Make War. 

UNDER the arrangements at first proposed in the Con- 
stitution, the citizen who received the largest number 
of electoral votes was President, and he who received the 
second number was the Vice-President. A worse arrangement 
could hardly have been made. It is easy to see that in a bar- 
barous or selfish time nothing could tend more to weaken 
the executive than the certainty that the nearest rival of the 
chief of the Republic was the person who would profit by his 
death. No such anxiety clouded the minds of inen when 
Thomas Jefferson was the Vice-President, while Adams was 
the President. But it was perfectly known that these two 
statesmen represented the two great parties which were already 
forming themselves in the Republic. 

Mr. Adams made a conciliatory opening address, and un- 
doubtedly hoped, as Washington had hoped, that in his ad- 
ministration he could reconcile the demands of moderate 
men of both parties. Politics were, however, then, as has 
been intimated, largely governed by the changes in Europe, 
which were almost as rapid as those of the weather- 
cock. France was still suffering under the mismanage- 
ment of the Directory; as bad a government, perhaps, as 
was ever administered by men — acting, indeed, on what 
we now know to be the worst principle of government. 
With every change, as has been seen, our envoys received 
new rebuffs and insults. It was certainly a matter of good 
fortune to America when Napoleon Buonaparte took the 
command, and gave steadiness, if he gave nothing more, 



ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS. 277 

to the politics of the world. Before that time America and 
France were virtually at war with each other. In some naval 
engagements in American waters the frigates of the United 
States gained decided advantages. It was even customary to 
fit out private armed vessels, and al the end of 1789, beside 
the few public ships, there were three hundred and sixty-five 
privateers, mounting two thousand seven hundred and thirty- 
three guns, under the American flag. But the commissions 
of these ships authorized them to capture only armed vessels 
of the enemy. 

All such warfare, however, came to an end in 1800, when 
the American envoys in Europe succeeded in making the 
convention with Napoleon, which has been described. A 
general peace was in prospect for the world, and in this peace 
America profited as well as Europe. But in the half war 
which had existed, some fifty French vessels had been taken 
by American cruisers, and many merchant vessels previously 
taken by the French were recaptured. On the whole, the 
firm stand of the President and his government against 
French aggression was sustained by the nation. But this was 
considered as rather the policy of the Federal party than 
that of their opponents. 

It was in a matter of internal policy that Mr. Adams's ad- 
ministration endangered itself at home. By the passage of 
two laws, familiarly known as the alien and sedition laws, 
they attempted to repress the interference, which was really 
scandalous, on the part of foreigners, with the institutions 
of America. These laws were made the signal for an oppo- 
sition to his home policy and to him, in which were united all 
the various sections which had originally opposed the Consti- 
tution, and at the same time all those persons in the agricult- 
ural or non-commercial States who were either jealous or 
indifferent to the maritime progress and success of the States 
on the sea-board. Mr. Adams himself, in his desire to carry 
an even hand, or to conciliate his opponents, had singular 
success in alienating his supporters. It was once said of him 
that he never turned his back on any but his friends. 



2/8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The result of the election of the autumn of 1800 was con- 
sequently a change in the head of the administration, and it 
proved to be virtually the end of the power of the Federal 
party. So far separated were the States from each other, 
and so slow was the communication between them, that the 
result was long in doubt. It seemed to hinge on the vote of 
the State of South Carolina, and this State gave its electoral 
votes to Jefferson and Burr. The result was that these two, 
the candidates of the Republican or Democratic party, each 
received seventy-three electoral votes. Of the Federalists, 
Adams received but sixty-five, Pinckney sixty-four, and John 
Jay one. Under the Constitution, as it ^hen existed, it was 
necessary that the House of Representatives should make 
the choice between Jefferson and Burr. All men knew, of 
course, that the people in voting had intended that Jefferson 
should be President and Burr Vice-President. The Feder- 
alists had taken care to cast one vote for John Jay, so that 
Pinckney should receive one less than John Adams. But the 
Democratic leaders had not ventured to risk even a single 
electoral vote, so that in the eye of the Constitution Burr and 
Jefferson had an equal right to be considered. 

In point of fact, as was eagerly pointed out at the time, 
Adams and Pinckney represented a larger popular vote than 
did Jefferson and Burr ; but the Constitution had, and has, 
no reference to the majorities given by the people ; and the 
House of Representatives, on which the election now de- 
volved, was to make its decision simply between the two 
highest candidates, who were the candidates of the Democratic 
party. It was at one time supposed that the State of South 
Carolina would give its eight electoral votes to Jefferson and 
Pinckney, by way of compliment to its own son. Had this 
critical vote been given Jefferson would never have been 
President of the United States ; Pinckney would have been 
chosen, and the political history of parties and of the govern- 
ment would from that moment have changed. 

The House of Representatives, in voting for President 
under the Constitution, votes, as the old Congress did, by 



JEFFERSON S ELECTION. 2/9 

States, so that the smallest State, Delaware, had a right equal 
with that of the largest. The Federal members, irritated to 
the last degree that a minority of the people, as they thought, 
should have chosen a majority of the electors, found them- 
selves obliged to determine between two candidates brought 
before them which should be President. A large majority of 
them determined to throw their votes for Burr. Of this de- 
termination the result was, that while eight States voted for 
Jefferson, six voted for Burr, while the votes of two States 
were divided. Balloting began on the nth of February, 1801. 
No result having been reached, it continued until the 17th of 
February, when thirty-five ballots had been taken, all with 
the same result. Before the thirty-sixth ballot, Jefferson 
authorized his friends to say that he would make no changes 
with regard to public debt, commerce, or the navy, and that 
meritorious subordinate officers ought not to be removed 
merely on account of their political opinions. Bayard, of 
Delaware, thought it was time to end the struggle, and called 
a general meeting of the Federal members. The result of 
this meeting was that a member from Vermont absented him- 
self at the thirty-sixth ballot, and the two Maryland Federal- 
ists voted blank. Jefferson thus had a majority of States, and 
was elected. The Vice-Presidency devolved upon Burr. 

Jefferson proved quite true to his promises, with the excep- 
tion of a coldness which he always felt toward an organized 
navy, and the indifference with which, like other Virginians, 
he regarded the maritime commerce of the country. In 
opposition, like most leaders of opposition, he had been 
eager to check the power of the government. But once in 
government, like most leaders of administration, he was 
eager and willing to have a strong national government as 
ever was any ruler. For twenty-four years the dynasty thus 
established, for so it must be called, directed the central 
councils of the United States. It made many errors, many 
of them so ridiculous that they now seem almost impossible. 
But as has been shown in other chapters, the nation was 
governing itself all the time. It was extending its agriculture 



280 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

by a marvelous growth. It was extending its maritime com- 
merce with untold and incredible rapidity. It was develop- 
ing its western territory, and making itself, without knowing 
it, to be one of the strongest empires of the world. In this 
work the national government hardly ever helped, and almost 
always hindered; but, fortunately for the people of America, 
the men who made their Constitution left in the hands of the 
central government so little power for evil that the blunders 
of the central administration, while at the time they have 
always been matter of serious and careful discussion among 
the people, have in result been like the frantic paddle-strokes 
of ignorant voyagers in a canoe, who are attempting to force 
it against the current of some mighty river. In the end the 
country has directed its own destiny, and the follies of the 
statesmen who have marred what they could not mend are 
in general forgotten, and may be forgotten by this reader. 

On the 4th of March, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugu- 
rated President, the ceremonies being celebrated at Wash- 
ington for the first time. The splendors of to-day were not 
known in the proceedings. Jefferson rode on horseback from 
the unfinished White House to the unfinished Capitol, along 
Pennsylvania Avenue, at that day very different from the 
broad, smooth street of our time. He delivered his inaugu- 
ral address, took the oath, and retired as he had come. Burr 
had already taken his oath of office as Vice-President, and 
was presiding over the Senate. 

The earlier acts of the administration were different, also, 
from those proceedings which have of late characterized the 
beginnings of administrations. Jefferson was a Republican 
President, his predecessor had been a Federalist; but he 
was true to his promises to the Federalists. The changes 
made in the civil service were but few. Certain appointments 
made by Adams, on the night before his successor's inaugura- 
tion, were canceled. The commissions had in many cases 
been neither countersigned nor issued, though they had been 
signed by Adams. Other removals were made, but sparingly, 
and on the principle that officers guilty of official misconduct 



BARBARY POWERS. 28 1 

or inefficiency were fit subjects for removal, but that men 
who knew their duty and performed it properly were not to 
be ousted for political opinions, unless persistently and obtru- 
sively expressed. There were, it is said, but sixteen removals 
for political cause to make room for Republicans who desired 
office. The cabinet officers had been already assigned. 
James Madison and Albert Gallatin were, throughout the 
eight years of Jefferson's administration, Secretaries of State 
and of the Treasury. At the beginning, Henry Dearborn and 
Robert Smith were placed at the head of the War and Navy 
Departments. Levi Lincoln was Attorney-General ; Haber- 
sham was for some time Postmaster-General, but was shortly 
succeeded by Granger. It was a cabinet of able men, and 
one which worked well and harmoniously together and with 
their chief. 

The time when Jefferson came into office was, on the whole, 
one of political inactivity. The quarrels of Adams's admin- 
istration had passed away with their causes. The Federalist 
party was in a hopeless minority. Abroad, affairs were at a 
lull, the treaty of Amiens having given a short peace to 
Europe. 

The most dramatic event in the history of the nation abroad 
during Jefferson's administration was the successful resistance 
to the preposterous claims of the Barbary powers. For more 
than two centuries the enterprising rulers on the northern 
coasts of Africa had succeeded, by their annoyances and 
depredations on the commerce of the world, in persuading or 
compelling every nation to pay them tribute. This was what 
we should now call "black-mailing," and resembled, indeed, 
the sums which were paid to Scotch marauders by Lowland 
husbandmen for the sake of protection against their ravages. 
The new nation had found itself expected, by these corsairs, 
to continue this tribute ; but a serie° of well-conducted naval 
operations, begun by the navy under Adams and continued 
with the wreck of the navy which Jefferson's policy still 
permitted to exist, resulted in a treaty with Tripoli, and in 
putting an end forever to such exactions on the part of these 



282 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

marauders. It is to the credit of America that these opera- 
tions began the series of negotiations, by force or by diplo- 
macy, in which the civilized world exempted itself from such 
an annoyance. 

These services of the American navy began in 1800. Cap- 
tain Bainbridge, of the national ship George Washington^ had 
been ordered by the Dey of Algiers to carry certain Algerine 
dispatches to Constantinople, and had obeyed the order. 
The smaller powers were equally irritating. The Bashaw 
of Tripoli had demanded a present equal to that offered 
to the Dey of Algiers, namely, a frigate, offering to make 
war were it not sent. The Bashaw of Tunis found fault be- 
cause the naval stores sent in tribute were not of as high order 
of excellence as he desired. The Emperor of Morocco was 
also unfriendly. Although Jefferson disliked the American 
navy, it seemed the only means at hand to repress these 
impudent pretenders. Commodore Dale was sent out with a 
squadron of four ships to make a naval demonstration. The 
sight of the American broadsides and the destruction of a 
Tripolitan vessel, which proved necessary, were found to have 
a most soothing effect upon the ruffled pride of the monarchs 
of the Barbary States. Dale returned, but left two ships on 
the coast. In the succeeding years, 1802 and 1803, this force 
was strengthened, and many combats took place between it 
and the pirate vessels. American merchantmen were con- 
voyed to their destinations, and the Barbary powers were kept 
in some sort of order ; but at home it was not thought that 
enough was being done, and in 1803 a new squadron was sent 
out, under Preble, to act particularly against the Bashaw of 
Tripoli. The first enterprises were not successful. Bainbridge, 
in the Philadelphia, 38 guns, ran aground while chasing a 
Tripolitan ship, and the ship and crew were captured. The ship 
was got off the rocks and carried into the harbor of Tripoli, 
where it lay under the guns of the castle. This disaster was 
in some degree atoned for by the gallantry of Decatur, who, 
with a small vessel and a crew of seventy-five, entered the 
harbor and succeeded in setting fire to the ship and utterly 



TRIPOLI HUMBLED. 283 

destroying her. But the bombardment of the town was not 
carried out with vigor. It was evident that the naval force 
was not of the efficiency necessary to a commercial nation. 
In 1805 Preble was relieved by Barron with a new ship, and 
returned to America. The squadron now consisted of ten 
vessels, some rated at twelve guns and the largest at forty- 
four. But this was not sufficient to overawe the whole coast of 
Africa, and all the Barbary powers were becoming more or less 
hostile. In 1805 a land expedition was led against Tripoli 
by Eaton, United States consul at Tunis, who formed the plan 
of marching from Egypt overland. He desired to aid Hamet, 
whom he called the rightful prince of Tripoli, who was then 
in exile in Tunis. Eaton carried through his scheme with 
some measure of success. With Hamet and a nondescript 
army he reached the province of Tripoli. After a march 
through the desert, and by the co-operation of the squadron, 
the town of Derne was captured. This and a threatened 
attack on Tripoli brought the Bashaw to terms, and he agreed 
on peace without tribute. But Hamet was not restored. The 
Bey of Tunis was also overawed, and expressed a desire to 
send an ambassador to the United States, which was done. 
As for tribute, when the ambassador mentioned the subject 
he was refused, and did not press the matter. The conclu- 
sion to these proceedings was reached ten years later, when, 
the Dey of Algiers declaring war against the United States, 
Decatur appeared in the Mediterranean, captured two Alge- 
rine ships, and compelled the Dey to sign a treaty by which 
all American prisoners were set free, and all claim to tribute 
was renounced. With this ended the terror inspired by the 
Barbary powers. 

The great diplomatic victory by which Mr. Jefferson's 
administration obtained possession of the whole of what was 
known as Louisiana has been described in another chapter. 
So soon as the treaty took effect, arrangements were made 
first for the temporary and then for the permanent govern- 
ment of the settled region, which has now extended into our 
State of Louisiana. 



284 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

It was quite of course that Jefferson should be nominated 
and elected for a second term. But of course, after what 
had passed in the vote of the Federalists for Burr, the Demo- 
cratic party did not name him as its second choice. George 
Clinton was chosen Vice-President, under an amendment to 
the Constitution by which the Vice-President is now chosen 
separately. In a State election in New York in which Burr 
had been defeated, in the year 1804, he singled out Alexander 
Hamilton as the object of his wrath. Hamilton was at that 
time a leader in New York politics, and had succeeded 
in dividing the Federal party against Burr. In February, 
1804, Burr demanded of Hamilton "a prompt and unquali- 
fied acknowledgement or denial of the use of any expressions 
which would warrant certain assertions made by a third 
party." On Hamilton's refusal, Burr sent a challenge. Hamil- 
ton felt bound to accept it. On the nth of July the two met 
on the shore of New Jersey, opposite the city of New York. 
Hamilton's pistol went off in the air, but he received Burr's 
shot in the right side. He was carried off the field uncon- 
scious, and died the next day. No death had so struck the 
public since Washington's. Burr fled the town. Indictments 
were found against him, and he sank rapidly to a low state of 
degradation in public opinion. He was still Vice-President 
of the United States, although a fugitive from justice. In 
March of the next year he lost even this title to consideration. 

At the end of his term of office he made a journey to the 
west, perhaps with no otlier purpose than that of finding 
what point there was in that new region where he could 
reconstruct the edifice of his political ambition. In that jour- 
ney, however, he made the acquaintance of Wilkinson, who 
was now the commander of the United States forces, and he 
satisfied himself that there was room for ambition which 
sought for much higher prizes than such as a seat in the 
House of Representatives of the United States. A certain 
mystery still attaches to his plans, a mystery born from the 
fact that neither he uor Wilkinson, nor indeed any of the 
other principal persons engaged in the affair, ever regarded 



burr's plans. 285 

the truth as a very important matter when they made public 
statements. This remark inchides even many officers of the 
Federal government at the time. What we know to have 
happened is this: that at the end of 1806, with certain prom- 
ises of assistance in the Eastern States. Burr made a second 
journey down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. From point 
to point, as he went, he enlisted a considerable number of 
men, and in a flotilla of ten boats, with arms and munitions 
of war, he went down the Mississippi River and came within 
thirty miles of Natchez. Here he met, for the first time, 
news that President Jefferson had issued a proclamation 
denouncing his expedition as treasonable, and that Wilkin- 
son, who was now at New Orleans, had addressed the Legis- 
lature of Louisiana, pronouncing this an unlawful scheme 
for invading the Spanish dominions. 

It is probable that this is just what it was. Whether Burr 
did or did not intend in the future to make Orleans the cap- 
ital of the new State which he proposed to form, is a ques- 
tion. What is probable is that he had no very definite plans, 
but meant to let the future teach him the best thing to do. 
He may have indulged in the hope, which after years made 
a proverb, of " reveling in the halls of Montezuma." What 
is certain is, that he expected the co-operation of Wilkinson, 
with whom he had frequent interviews in the year before 
and with whom he had maintained a regular correspondence 
in cipher. As we now know Wilkinson to have been a trai- 
tor to his country and a liar through and through, it seems 
probable that Wilkinson had intended to join in this expedi- 
tion, and, perhaps, to contribute to it the weight of the Amer- 
ican forces. It is, indeed, an interesting question whether 
Wilkinson had not been led to this view from the impression 
that it might be agreeable to Jefferson to have this formida- 
ble rival operating in another region. This is certain: that 
neither Wilkinson nor Jefferson, nor anybody else in the 
government of the United States, had up to this time any 
very friendly feeling toward Spain, or any very feager desire 
to maintain her hold upon Mexico. 



286 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

All these are, however, questions which will perhaps never 
be answered. What is certain is, that the determination of 
the United States to arrest the expedition broke it up. The 
different members of it scattered in different directions. 
Burr himself fled across the Indian Territory, where he was 
arrested by an officer of the United States and sent to Wash- 
ington. He was afterward tried for treason, in the first 
important state trial of the young nation. The trial was held 
before Judge Marshall, in Richmond, Virginia. Burr was 
acquitted on most of the charges. A new trial was ordered 
in the Territory of Indiana, because there the offenses, if any, 
were committed. Burr gave bonds in three thousand dollars 
to appear there for trial. At the time fixed he did not 
appear, and his recognizances were forfeited. The result of 
the trial was such as to make it almost certain that, in a 
government constituted like ours, no prosecution for treason 
can ever be so conducted as to succeed if the forms of 
English law are really respected by both sides. From that 
moment Burr disappears from our history, and it is a satis- 
faction that he does. He was a man absolutely without 
moral principle, and his ascendancy at an early period of the 
nation's life is a painful reminder that the men of those days 
were as easily fooled as the men of any other time ; and that 
the superior moral excellence which a grateful nation attaches 
to the period of the revolution existed no more then than it 
has existed in the generations which have come after. 

We must now turn our attention to foreign affairs, which 
hereafter involved the United States in trouble for some 
little time. It must be recollected that the state of Europe 
was one of perpetual war. France, or rather Napoleon, and 
England were the two powers whose relations with the 
United States were closest. With England the United States 
had the sympathy necessitated by a common tongue, a com- 
mon history, a common race. For France she had kindly 
feelings for the assistance furnished in the Revolutionary 
War. But it was not her inclination toward either the one or 
the other of tlie combatants that involved the United States 



BERLIN AND MILAN DECREES. 28/ 

in trouble. Certain complications grew out of commercial 
relations and principles of international law. It is now a 
recognized principle in public law that " free ships make free 
goods." That is, neutral commerce with a belligerent coun- 
try must not be interrupted by the other belligerent, except 
as far as contraband of war is concerned. In the beginning 
of this century this principle did not hold as far as England 
was concerned, and, her fleet being absolute on the seas, her 
cruisers could assert any principles of maritime law that 
seemed good to her government. And these principles 
were very severe on belligerent goods carried in neutral ves- 
sels. Now, as the reader knows, the United States did a 
very large carrying trade with all Europe, and in conse- 
quence suffered severely. But this was not the worst. In the 
spring of 1806 the King of Prussia, at the command of Napo- 
leon, excluded English vessels from all ports under his con- 
trol. England retaliated by declaring the whole North Ger- 
man coast in a state of blockade. Napoleon then promul- 
gated his Berlin decree (November i, 1806), which declared 
the British Islands and all their ports to be in a state of 
blockade. A year later (November 11, 1807) the English 
passed " orders in council " by which all neutral trade was 
forbidden with any countries with whom England was at war, 
or with any ports from which English vessels were excluded. 
These blockades were all paper declarations. Hardly any 
attempt to enforce them was made. But a blockade in inter- 
national law at that time had this effect : ships bound to the 
blockaded port were fair prizes for the blockader. The conse- 
quence of these European decrees was that any American 
vessel which attempted to trade with France, or any of her 
allies, Germany, or the British Isles, was exposed to capture 
by either English or French as the case might be. This was 
a great blow to commerce. But the state of things was made 
worse when, December 17, 1807, Napoleon, by his Milan de- 
cree, declared that any vessel which should submit to search 
by a British man-of-war, or should touch in any British port or 
pay any impost to the British governmentj should be denation- 



288 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

alized and be fair prize. The commerce of the United States, 
almost the only country left neutral, was sure to suffer by 
these unjust regulations; and suffer it did. But negotiation was 
of no avail; the orders and decrees were not to be removed. 

Another subject most distressing to American commerce 
was the British theory of impressment. It was held by Great 
Britain that a man once a British subject was always a Brit- 
ish subject. From this, as a particular deduction, they held 
that, as the king had a right to impress any subject for service 
in the navy, he had therefore the right to seize any natural- 
ized American who had ever been a British subject where- 
ever he might find him. The result of this was that the 
British men-of-war would order American vessels to lie to, 
would muster their crews, would claim such of them as they 
chose as British citizens, and carry them away. The cap- 
tain of a cruiser short of men would have no scruples in 
taking any he could get from any American vessel he might 
happen across. The consequence of all this was a number 
of outrages on American commerce. The feeling against 
Great Britain was exaggerated when the Chesapeake, an 
American man-of-war, was ordered by a British cruiser of 
superior force to give up certain of her sailors, claimed as 
deserters by the British captain. The captain of the Chesa- 
peake refused, and the Leopard fired a broadside at her. The 
Chesapeake, unprepared for battle, was unable to reply. 
After three of her men had been killed and eighteen 
wounded she struck her flag. The crew was mustered, and 
the British picked out the men they wanted and carried 
them off, tried them at Halifax, and sentenced them all four 
to be hanged. Only one was executed, hov/ever, the other 
three entering the British service. 

An outrage so flagrant of course excited the whole Ameri- 
can people. It is fair to say that from that moment war 
with England was inevitable. Barron, the commander of 
the Chesapeake, returned to Norfolk with his miserable story, 
and from this moment any reasonable negotiations with 
England were impossible. 



EMBARGO. 289 

Mr. Jefferson was, however, wholly unprepared for war. 
Indeed, it had always been his political theory that wars were 
unnecessary, and that other methods could be found by 
which nations could settle their discussions. 

These systems were now to be tested. So soon as news 
was received tliat the King of Great Britain, in council, had 
declared France and the countries under her control in a 
state of blockade, the President sent to Congress a recom- 
mendation for the prohibition of the departure of our vessels 
from the ports of the United States. His impression was 
that the need of the commerce of America was so great that 
England would virtually be starved into giving better terms 
in negotiation. Congress at once passed a law of embargo. 
This prohibited the departure of any vessels from any port 
of the United States to any foreign country, except foreign- 
armed vessels with public commissions, and foreign mer- 
chant ships in ballast. All vessels in the coasting trade were 
to give bonds that their cargoes should be landed within the 
United States. This bill passed by a vote of two to one. 
The maritime States regarded it as an attack upon them 
quite as much as it was an attack upon Great Britain. A 
subsequent bill compelled fishing vessels to land their car- 
goes in the United States. 

When, a few weeks after, Buonaparte's Milan decree ar- 
rived, by which he declared all the countries of Great Britain 
and her allies under blockade, the President laid it before 
Congress as a new proof of the wisdom of the embargo. As 
if to show that he meant to be prepared for more active war, 
the President asked for an addition of six thousand men to 
the regular army, and these were at once granted. 

Under this suspension of com.merce the country lived 
through the year 1808. The maritime States M^ere, of course, 
reduced, and greatly prostrated. The agricultural States be- 
gan to find that commerce and agriculture are closely con- 
nected. The powers of Europe showed no sign of being 
affected by the withdrawal of a commerce which had been so 

profitable to America. The session of the new Congress, in 
13 



290 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

December, 1808, began by a direct attack upon the embargo. 
But the government was able to show that the importations 
from abroad had still continued, the revenue had not mate- 
rially fallen off, and they had sixteen millions in hand with 
which to begin the new year. New clauses were added to 
the embargo for the purpose of enforcing it, and as the win- 
ter passed the House and Senate discussed measures for 
strengthening the army and the navy. 

Gradually, however, the administration learned that war 
must be conducted by some more active methods than the 
starvation of its enemies ; and after the experiment of a year 
it was agreed by Congress, on the 3d of February, tliat the 
embargo should cease on the ist of March. The committee 
on foreign relations proposed to substitute for it a non-inter- 
course with France and Great Britain. This change of pol- 
icy was a great mortification to Mr. Jefferson. He ascribed 
it correctly to an unaccountable revolution of opinion, a kind 
of panic, chiefly among the New England and the New York 
members. His own personal influence in the councils of 
Congress had now nearly ceased. At the election of the last 
year his own candidate for his successor, Madison, had been 
elected, and there was no longer any wish in Congress to 
favor Mr. Jefferson's personal designs. His work ended when 
he determined that Mr. Madison, and not Mr. Monroe, should 
be his successor. In fact, at this moment there was a cool- 
ness between Jefferson and Monroe because the President 
had refused to consider the English treaty. 

It may be wondered why the United States did not go to 
v/ar with France rather than with England. The reason, per- 
haps, lies (aside from the fact that England's all-powerful 
navy could enforce her decrees while France could do little) 
in two additional causes; namely, impressment and the con- 
duct of the Indians on the Canadian border. Examples of 
each of these causes occurred in the early part of 181 1. In 
May an American brig was ordered to lie to by the British 
frigate Guerriere, 38 guns, and a native American was im- 
pressed. This was followed by an event which appears to 



TIPPECANOE. 291 

have been unconnected with it in any way save popular im- 
pression. The American ship President, 44 guns, meeting 
with the English Little Belt, ordered her to lie to, and on 
the order being refused, sent a broadside into her which crip- 
pled her badly. The public, conceiving that the President 
had sailed to demand the man seized by the Guerriere, were 
much pleased at the occurrence, and looked on it as a right- 
eous retribution for the case of the Chesapeake. 

The western complications at this time led to an Indian 
war. There were at this time two brothers among the Indians 
in northern Indiana, named Tecumseh and the Prophet. 
Through the influence of these men the Indians in that part 
of the country became greatly stirred up against the whites, 
and, being further excited and persuaded by British agents 
across the Canada line, they resolved to go upon the war- 
path against the frontier settlements of the north-west coun- 
try. Harrison, then Governor of the Indiana Territory, was 
on the lookout for hostilities. They came to a head in the 
summer of 1 811, and Harrison, leaving Vincennes with a con- 
siderable force, met the savages at the Prophet's town on the 
Tippecanoe. They appeared to be friendly at first, but 
attacked him treacherously by night. After a sharp battle 
the Indians were defeated, and fled, dispersing in all directions. 
The feeling against England grew more and more bitter after this 
affair, for plain evidence appeared that the Indians had been 
incited and armed by English agents. The national feeling 
was by this time thoroughly roused against England. 

Mr. Madison's position was that of a statesman who had 
always been subordinate to an imperious director. For 
such a director was Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Madison had no wish 
to make a war with England, but so soon as he was President 
he found that a new generation was stepping on the stage 
which did not mean to be controlled by him or by any one. At 
first, things seemed favorable for peace. Conciliatory dis- 
patches came from England. The restrictions on English 
commerce were removed. A thousand merchantmen rushed 
across the ocean to engage in the trade which had been 



292 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

forfeited. The miseries of the embargo were for the mo- 
ment at an end. But the transient hopes of the sea-board 
States were soon blighted. A Tory ministry in England dis- 
avowed the acts of their negotiator in Washington. Madison 
and his friends proposed an American Navigation Act, which 
should exclude English and French ships from American 
harbors and give all trade to the Americans. But to this 
Congress would not assent. The President could not direct 
Congress in America, as in England the government refused 
to be bound by its own negotiator. 

The elections to the Congress of 1811 made it clear that 
poor Mr. Madison, who had served one master for eight years 
to earn his seat, must now serve other masters still. The 
young blood of the Democratic party, represented by Henry 
Clay, of Kentucky, and John Caldwell Calhoun, insisted upon 
war. Mr. Madison hesitated and wavered. But Mr. Clay 
headed a committee which told him that he should not be 
the Democratic candidate for the presidency again unless he 
declared war. The President was obliged to yield. 



PREPARATIONS FUR WAR. 293 



CHAPTER XXX. 

The ^A/Si^ of 1812. 

Meeting of Congress — The President Recommends War — War Proclaimed 
— General Hull's Failure — The Canadian Campaign — Actions at Sea — 
Constitution and Giieriiere — Other Naval Battles — Negotiations — New 
Election — General Proctor — Commodore Chauncy — Perry's Battle for 
the Command of Lake Erie — Battle of the Thames — General Arm- 
strong's Campaign — The Year 1813 at Sea — Battles near Niagara 
River — Washington Taken — Attack on Baltimore — Review of Naval 
Warfare — Battle of New Orleans — Negotiation of Peace — Effect of the 
War. 

^N November 4, 181 1, the tenth Congress assembles. 
The air is heavy with approaching war. The Con- 
gress in its very make up is seen to be a body which differs 
from those which have gone before it in the new blood in- 
fused into it, in the younger men who are seizing tlie direction 
of affairs. The young West, hot for war, sends Henry Clay, 
who is chosen speaker. John Caldwell Calhoun is a leader 
in the house, in earnest for a vigorous policy. 

The Committee on Foreign Affairs at once sounded the 
war note, and measures were at once entered upon to raise 
the efficiency of army and navy. Army bills and navy bills were 
passed by large majorities. The war spirit was heightened 
by the publication of the Henry correspondence, which showed 
Canadian intrigue to bring about a separation of New England 
from the rest of the Union. On the 3d of April a ninety days' 
embargo was declared, as a preparatory war m.easure. On 
both sides of the great lakes diligent work was done in recruit- 
ing soldiers and building ships. 

On June ist the President sent in his war-message. He re- 
cited the causes for complaint — impressment, sham blockades, 
orders in council, violation of neutral rights, complicity with 



294 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the Indians. Congress passed an act declaring war, on June 
i8, and the President at once made proclamation that war ex- 
isted. Henry Dearborn, of Massachusetts, one bf the survivors 
of the Revolution, was appointed commander-in-chief. 

The first enterprise of the army was unfortunate. William 
Hull, an officer of the regular army, who had served with dis- 
tinction in the Revolution, was in command of the American 
forces in Michigan. He had been ordered to be in readiness 
to invade Canada. So soon as war was declared he marched 
from Ohio with about two thousand men, mostly militiamen, 
very little used to military discipline. Had the government 
notified him of its intention a little earlier, the issue might 
have been different. But in fact the English surprised the 
fort at Mackinaw before Hull could re-enforce it. Heald, who 
was at Fort Dearborn, where Chicago now stands, was directed 
to withdraw his garrison and meet Hull at Detroit. The In- 
dians of the neighborhood, tempted by a premium which the 
English Colonel Proctor had offered for scalps, attacked the 
retiring party, and compelled them to surrender. This was 
the beginning of English victories. On the i6th of August 
General Brock, in command of two thousand regulars, crossed 
the Detroit River and compelled Hull to surrender the post at 
Detroit. Hull had before crossed into Canada, but had re- 
tired before Brock. He did not believe that he could depend 
upon the militia for service, and he knew that his officers had 
conspired to depose him from command. The disappointment 
of the nation required a victim ; Hull was tried by court-mar- 
tial and condemned to be shot. Madison, however, who knew 
how the government had neglected him, pardoned him, as in 
decency he was obliged to do. Under the pressure of the 
same public sentiment, Eustis, the Secretary of War, resigned. 

In October, Van Rensselaer, the American commander at 
Niagara, crossed the Niagara River and attacked the English 
lines, but the attack was unsuccessful, and the Americans re- 
tired with the loss of a thousand men. 

On the ocean the United States was more successful. As 
early as the 13th of August the Essex fought the Alert, an En- 



NAVAL SUCCESSES. 295 

glish ship, and compelled her to strike her colors. In the next 
week, in a battle which excited immense enthusiasm, the 
American frigate Constitution, under Hull, a nephew of 
General Hull, engaged the English frigate Guerriere and com- 
pelled her to surrender. The battle began at five in the 
afternoon, and at seven o'clock the Guerriere, lying with her 
masts all shot awa}^, in such a state as to make further re- 
sistance useless, the English commander, Dacres, surrendered. 
The Guerriere was in such state that she could not be taken 
to any port, and was set on fire and blown up. 

In October the frigate United States engaged the Mace- 
donian successfully and sent her into the harbor of New Lon- 
don. By one of the charming compensations of history, in 
the year 1848 the Macedonian was sent, laden with food, by 
the government of the United States to the relief of the starv- 
ing people of Ireland. In December the Constitution, under 
Bainbridge, engaged ,the frigate Java and vanquished her. 
The Java was so much injured that she was blown up. It 
was after this action that the Constitution received the name 
which, in history and poetry, she has since borne, of " Old 
Ironsides." These victories were won in six months ; and by 
the navy and by privateers three hundred English merchant- 
men were \\\ that time brought into American ports, with three 
thousand prisoners. 

Later in the year other victories occurred. In October the 
Wasp, r8 guns, met with the English Frolic, 18 guns, and 
after a severe fight boarded and captured her. The ships 
had cannonaded each other for less than an hour before the 
Americans boarded her, and when Lieutenant Biddle with a 
boarding party reached the Frolic s deck there was no one 
to oppose him. Biddle pulled down the Frolic s flag with his 
own hands. This was a fair victory, for the two brigs were 
nearly equal in metal and men. But except for the moral 
effect it resulted in nothing for the Americans, for both ves- 
sels were immediately taken by the British ship Poiciiers, 74 
guns, which carried them both into Bermuda. 

This was a most successful showing for the navy, and it was 



296 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

taken by the people at its full worth and more. The captains of 
the successful ships were covered with honors, received swords 
and gold boxes, and the American navy was exalted to the 
skies. By.the English, on the other hand, it was asserted, and 
in most cases with some ground, that the victories were never 
gained where there were equal conditions; that the American 
frigates were really ships of the line in disguise; that they car- 
ried picked crews, and so on. Which amounts to this: that 
the Americans built larger frigates than was then the custom 
abroad, and manned them more heavily and more carefully. 

Through the year there were efforts made to gain some sort 
of negotiation for peace, but nothing came of it. In the 
autumn the presidential election occurred, and Madison and 
Gerry were elected. The adminstration was in a majority in 
Congress, and war measures were passed, and little else. 

General William Henry Harrison, afterward the President, 
was put in command of a new army of about ten thousand 
men for the service of the next year on the west of Canada. 
His advance was attacked in January by a force of English 
troops and Indians, under Proctor. The attack was successful, 
A considerable portion of the Americans surrendered, but were 
then left to the mercy of the Indians, who killed them all. 
General Proctor then besieged Harrison at Fort Meigs, but 
his siege was unsuccessful. Three months later he attacked 
Fort Stevenson, on the Sandusky, but without success. The 
invasion of Canada, or its defense, depended upon the com- 
mand of Lakes Erie and Ontario. Both parties understood this, 
and both parties, as rapidly as possible, were building fleets. 
Commodofe Chauncy, in April, attacked York, a frontier village 
now known as Toronto. In the attack General Pike and the 
assailing column were blown up in the explosion of a maga- 
zine. He was an officer of great intelligence, and a great loss 
to the American army. At the other end of the lake the 
English general, Prevost, attacked Sackett's Harbor. He 
was obliged to retire. But meanwhile the American store- 
houses were burned for fear they should fall into the enemy's 
hands. 



perry's victory. 297 

The campaign on Lake Ontario had thus been unsuccessful 
for the Americans. But on Lake Erie they were happy 
enough to have a naval force under the command of Perry. 

The English had had a fleet of no great value on the lake 
at the beginning of the war. The Americans had set them- 
selves at work at Presque, Isle to build one as fast as possible. 
In August, Perry set sail with two heavy gun-brigs, the Law- 
rence and the Niagara, and seven smaller vessels carrying 
from two to five guns apiece. Barclay, the English com- 
modore, had under him six vessels, and was inferior to the 
American fleet both in metal and men. Barclay attempted 
unsuccessfully to prevent the American fleet from getting to 
sea; they succeeded, and met the English on September 10. 
The two fleets at once engaged, at about eleven in the morn- 
ing. The fighting at the head of the line was very sharp. 
The Lawrence, Perry's flag-ship, which led the line, was 
exposed to the combined fire of the English, and lost four 
fifths of her men. Perry himself fired the last gun, having 
only, it is said, his purser and chaplain on deck. Perry, on 
this, resolved to shift his flag to the Niagara, which was com- 
paratively fresh. He was rowed across to his new flag-ship in 
a small boat. In the Niagara he at once broke through the 
enemy's lines, firing on each side as he passed through. Bar- 
clay struck his flag at about 3 o'clock. " We have met the en- 
emy," wrote Perry to General Harrison, "and they are ours — • 
two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop." The 
battle was hotly and well contested on both sides. The re- 
sult gave the Americans the command of Lake Erie. Harri- 
son, meanwhile, had been preparing to invade Canada. Now 
that he commanded Lake Erie, he pressed the English gen- 
eral hardly. He recovered Detroit, and followed the retreat- 
ing army. On the 5th of October Proctor off"ered battle on 
the river Thames. The brunt of the battle was sustained by 
his famous ally, Tecumseh, and the Indians. But Tecumseh 
was himself killed, and the Indians and the English were 
broken. The Americans thus regained the Territory of 
Michigan. 

13* 



298 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In October, Armstrong, the Secretary of War, had com- 
pelled Dearborn to retire. Wilkinson, the western traitor, 
was Dearborn's successor. Late in October he embarked his 
forces to move down the St. Lawrence for a movement which 
should end at Montreal. After some successes Wilkinson 
abandoned the expedition, having received word from Gen. 
Wade Hampton, who commanded the right wing, that he 
would not make the junction which he was ordered to make. 
The year 1813 thus passed without any successful attack on 
Canada excepting that of Harrison. But in the western part 
of New York the English crossed, and destroyed several vil- 
lages, among others Buffalo and Black Rock. The only 
American successes on the land were Harrison's victories in 
Michigan, and those v/onby Andrew Jackson, who now makes 
his first appearance in a military career of importance against 
the Creek Lidians at the South. 

In the year 1813, Congress authorized the building of four 
ships of the line, six frigates, and six sloops-of-war, besides 
the vessels required on the lakes. On the ist of June the 
unfortunate frigate Chesapeake went out from Boston, under 
the commandof James Lawrence, to meet the English frigate 
Shannon under Broke. Lawrence had the winter before 
sunk the English sloop of war Peacock, when command- 
ing the Hornet. The Chesapeake was beaten in sight of the 
highlands in the Boston Bay, and, to the amazement and 
grief of the multitudes, was carried away to Halifax. Law- 
rence had rashly taken her to sea with a new crew, without 
experience, and, in fighting, his vessel suffered what might 
have been expected from their want of discipline. 

The successes on each side at sea this year nearly counter- 
balanced each other. The American ship Argus was taken 
by the Pelican, and the English Boxer was captured by the 
American brig Enterprise, 14 guns. This last fight was most 
vigorously contested. Burrows and Blythe, the two command- 
ers, were both killed. The Boxer s flag, which was nailed to 
the m.ast, had to be finally torn down, and the ship surren- 
dered. In this year the Essex, under Captain Porter, made a 



LUNDY S LANE. 299 

successful and daring cruise in the Pacific, which, unfort- 
unately, did not end as well as it had begun. He had set out 
from Delaware Bay and proceeded alone around Cape Horn 
into the Pacific Ocean, where he was most successful in seizing 
armed whalers. He refitted his ship in Noua Keevah Island, 
of which he took possession for the United States, changing 
its name to Madison Island. He then made for the coast of 
Peru, where, in the harbor of Valparaiso, he met with the 
British frigate P hcebe ^xidi. the sloop-of-war Cherub. In March, 
1 8 14, Porter, after having in vain attempted to meet the 
Phcebe singly, tried to run out of the liarbor by night. He 
lost his main-topmast in so doing, and lay to in neutral waters 
to repair it. The two English ships now attacked him, and, 
being at this advantage, they managed to stand off and fire 
at the Essex until half her crew were killed or wounded. 
The ship herself had caught fire several times and had been 
riddled with shot when Porter surrendered. 

The year 1814 showed a repetition of the plans for the 
invasion of Canada, but with results much the same as in the 
former year. On the 2d of July, Gen. Brown, an American 
officer, crossed the Niagara River, invested Fort Erie and 
took it. He pressed the English force, and on the 5th de- 
feated them after a well-fought action. But Brown had not 
the assistance of the navy, and was obliged to retire. It was 
at this time that the battle, afterward well remembered as 
Lundy's Lane, was fought. It was one of the hardest ever 
fought, considering the number of men engaged. Brown and 
Winfield Scott, who was then a young man, and Jessup, who 
afterward held high command in the American army, were 
all wounded. The English army was larger and its loss was 
larger. The American army fell back to its camp on the 
Chippewa. The English attempted to recover Fort Erie, and 
lost many men in the effort. But the English general was 
obliged to abandon the siege. In October, however, the 
Americans destroyed the fort and returned to their own side 
of the river. On the northern frontier of New York, where 
Lake Champlain makes an easy entrance into that State, 



300 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the English general, Prevost, moved southward, with the co- 
operation of the English naval forces. He was met by Ala- 
comb, in command of the American troops at Plattsburg, 
and McDonoLigh, who commanded a fleet of eighty-six guns 
on the lake. The result was a defeat of the English. The 
American victory was complete on water and shore, and Pre- 
vost retreated to Canada. 

The same autumn General Ross, with thirty-five hundred 
men who had had the best training which the world could 
give — under Wellington in Spain — arrived in the Chesapeake. 
Admiral Cockburn, of the English blockading squadron, was 
able to give him the assistance of a thousand marines. With 
this force he landed about forty miles below the city of Wash- 
ington. Armstrong, in his eagerness to attack Canada, had 
done little or nothing to defend the city. General Winder 
was in command. He called in such militia from Virginia 
and the neighborhood as he could collect, and with six hun- 
dred regular troops formed his line of battle at Bladensburg. 
But he had no confidence in himself and, if possible, less in 
his troops. The only serious fighting was done by a body of 
six hundred American marines who for a little time held the 
English advance. The Secretary of the Navy burned the 
navy yard at Washington, and Ross's army took possession of 
the city. They spared the post-office building, because it 
contained the patent office, and the English officer was told 
that the models were of importance to civilization. They 
burned the President's house and the unfinished Capitol. 
Ross then withdrew, naturally expecting that some American 
force would gather for the rescue of the capital. But he 
regained his ships without molestation. 

Flushed with this victory, with Admiral Cochrane be moved 
up the Chesapeake to threaten Baltimore. The people of 
Baltimore had undertaken their own defense. Under Gen. 
John Strieker, they moved an army of three thousand volun- 
teers from Maryland and Pennsylvania to defend the city. 
Ross himself was killed by a sharp-shooter. Fort McHenry 
resisted successfully the attack of the enemy's vessels, and 



"THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER. 



301 



the English enterprise was abandoned. Of this successful 
resistance, the memorial most familiar to the American peo- 
ple is the national song of the " Star Spangled Banner," 
which was written at this time by Mr. Key, an American gen- 
tleman who was actually on the English fleet under a flag of 
truce negotiating for an exchange of prisoners. 



Eeister o Emory Grove 
town 0.5" 
Gnyndon o\| Timonlumo 

.a- 



TICINITY 

OF 

BALTIMORE 




On the sea not so much was done this year as before. The 
British navy blockaded the whole coast of the United States, 
the frigates generally sailing in company for the sake of assist- 
ance in case of battle. The Admiralty had very properly 
issued orders that no English 38-gun frigate should engage 
with one of the heavier American frigates if she could help 
herself, and owing to these orders there were by no means 
the number of single-ship battles that had before occurred. 
The Frolic, 18 guns, under Bainbridge, was captured by the 



302 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

English frigate Orpheus, 36 guns. The Peacock, 18 guns, met 
the English brig Epervier, 18 guns, and captured her in three 
quarters of an hour. The Wasp, 18 guns, a vessel of the 
same class as the Frolic and the Peacock, sailed for the En- 
glish Channel, and there met the Reindeer, 18 guns, a vessel 
of weaker armament. The Reindeer, however, made a brave 
fight. After a fierce cannonade, in which the American ship 
had the advantage, owing as much to her heavier metal as to 
her superior gunnery, the ships closed and the Americans 
boarded. The captain's clerk of the Reindeer, the officer of 
highest rank left, surrendered the ship. The Reitideer gave 
up only to superior force in men and guns. The Wasp went 
into the port of L'Orient to refit, and issuing forth fell in 
with the British brig Avon, 18 guns. The fight began at half- 
past nine at night, and was carried on with great vigor till 
ten, when the Avon struck. The Wasp was about to take 
possession of the prize, when the English brig Castilian, 18 
guns, hove in sight, and running down to the Avon rescued 
her men. The Avon at once went down. The Wasp con- 
tinued on her cruise southward, but, after speaking one or 
two vessels, she was never heard of again. 

The next year the Hornet, under Biddle, met and captured 
the Penguin, of almost exactly the same force. This was the 
last of the single-ship duels of the war, the only manner in 
which the little American navy could show its valor against 
the enormous navy of Great Britain. There were twelve of 
these encounters. Two of them were largely to the credit 
of the English : the capture of the Chesapeake and the Argus. 
The battles in which the Wasp captured the Reindeer, and 
the Enterprise the Boxer, two American victories showed by 
no means any inferiority on the part of the English. But the 
captures of the Guerriere, the Macedonian, the Java, the 
Frolic, the Peacock, the Penguin, tlie Epervier, and the Avon, 
even allowing for the frequent heavier force of the Amer- 
icans, were victories won by superior seamanship, disci- 
pline and courage, of which any navy would be proud. 
More than one of these battles were fought after peace was 



THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. 303 

declared, before it had been heard of by the contending 
forces. 

It is a sad thing to say that the same is true of the great vic- 
tory of New Orleans, in which Andrew Jackson, at the head 
of a force of men who were militia from the States above, 
defeated the English army. The English had taken posses- 
sion of Pensacola, though it was nominally a Spanish town, 
and used it as a station to fit out expeditions against Mobile 
and New Orleans. But Jackson drove them out from Pensa- 
cola and repulsed their attack on Mobile. 

Their attack on New Orleans was more serious, as the 
prize was more important. At the outset, the English over- 
came the American gun-boats in Lake Borgne, which is one 
of the approaches to New Orleans. They were thus enabled 
to land twenty-four hundred men nine miles below the city. 
Jackson attacked them with about two thousand. Each side 
lost more than two hundred men, but there was no decisive 
issue to the action. The next week General Pakenham, the 
English commander, was re-enforced by two thousand men. 
In that region there are no heights to seize, and on the dead 
level of " the coasts " one spot is as commanding as is another. 
There was no room, therefore, for engineering strategy, and 
on the 8th of January, Pakenham, with the brute courage 
of his nation, advanced in two columns on the American 
lines. Each column was preceded by a regiment bearing lad- 
ders and fascines ; midway were a thousand Highlanders, 
ready to support an attack on either wing. Jackson's men 
were mostly frontiersmen, well skilled in the use of the rifle. 
His artillery was served with coolness and precision. It is 
said that the entire van of one English column melted away 
before a single sliot of a thirty-two pounder discharging a 
bushel of musket balls. Both the pioneer regiments wav- 
ered. Pakenham, Gibbs, Keene, and Dale fell, dead or 
wounded, in attempting to rally them. Three English officers 
reached the American breast-work. Two fell dead as they 
mounted it. The third asked for the swords of two Amer- 
icans who met him, who bade him look behind him. He 



304 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

turned to find that the men he thought were following him 
had vanished away. In twenty-five minutes the action was 
over. The English had lost seven hundred men killed, four- 
teen hundred wounded, and five hundred prisoners. 'J'he loss 
of the Americans was but seventeen. 

This battle made the fame of General Andrew Jackson. 
It made him President of the United States. It gave the 
nation a just confidence in its power for war, properly led, and 
it has much to do with the birth of national feeling which, 
is the great and important result of the war of 1812. But it 
took place fifteen days after the treaty of peace had been 
signed at Ghent. 

As has been already intimated, there was no real reason for 
carrying on the war after the fall of Napoleon. All Europe 
was sighing for peace. All question as to neutral vessels and 
as to the impressment of seamen died of themselves so soon 
as peace was gained. There were enough other questions 
open between America and England for diplomatic quarrel. 
Most of those questions have remained open ever since. But 
there was no question open longer worthy of the terrible 
arbitrament of war. The English, as has been said, never 
wanted to make war. The American government had only won 
disgrace at home by its method of carrying it on, and appointed 
envoys to negotiate peace in the summer of 1814. These 
envoys made a treaty in which the questions of boundary 
were determined by reference to commissions which were 
to lay out boundary lines upon the spot. The relations of 
the English with the Indians in what was still called the 
North-west Territory were adjusted, and the question of im- 
pressment was passed over. Christmas Day at Ghent cel- 
ebrated the return of peace to Europe and to the world. 

The history of this second war with England begins with 
the President's confidential message of June i, 1812, and the 
able report approving of the war by Mr. Calhoun, the Chair- 
man of the House Committee on Foreign Relations. It closes 
with a treaty of peace made at Ghent, by the commissioners 
of the two nations on December 24, 1814. When it began, 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WAR. 305 

Napoleon was in the pride of his power, starting upon his 
Russian campaign. Jefferson and his friends had alwa3's 
sympathized with the French, and had, indeed, more than 
they knew, been drawn into this conflict in the feeling that 
they had a strong ally. Before the war had lasted a year the 
French were in full retreat. The battle of Leipsic, in Octo- 
ber, 1813, put an end to the continental ambitions of Na- 
poleon, and the United States had no longer a reason for 
continuing war when all the rest of the world was at peace. 

The war was so largely dependent on foreign complications, 
there was so little adequate preparation for it by either combat- 
ant, and it was really so difficult for either nation to injure the 
other, that with the exception of the naval battles, which 
have been described, and of the remarkable defense of New 
Orleans, it presents none of the critical events which give 
distinction to chapters of history. True, an English maraud- 
ing force took and burned the city of Washington. But this 
event is only important as it taught the world that Washington 
is not the capital of the United States in the same sense in 
which Paris is the capital of France, or London, of England. 
The fall of Washington was as important as th"atof any other 
town of a few thousand inhabitants, and no more so. 

But the war has a great importance in the history of this 
nation, because it proved to the nation that it was a nation, 
and this it hardly knew before. It tested the power of the 
national government, and though that government made many 
absurd mistakes and failures, it learned from its mistakes and 
repaired its failures. The navy, which had been despised by 
Jefferson, proved its necessity and its right to be, and earned 
the enthusiastic gratitude of the nation. 

As soon as the war was over, the immense and rapid ad- 
vance of the United States in every victory of peace and in 
all the lines of national life began. Parties disappeared from 
politics. What was called an era of good feeling began. The 
nation knew it was a nation. The people began to see — what 
more and more it knows — that its success depends on an 
upright and honorable public opinion, an intelligent enter- 



306 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

prise, on its refusal to entrust power to any class, and on open 
lines of promotion. 

At this era this volume of history may close. The next 
volume must be written when the materials are more ac- 
cessible than they are now for the history of the generation 
still upon the stage. 



INDEX. 



Abercrombie, James, General 131, 135 

Acton soldiers at Concord isg 

Adaes _. •• . 238 

Adams, John, in 1776, 247 ; his admin- 
istration, 242; internal policy 276 

Adamf, Samuel 146, 147, 152, 153 

Albemarle, Lord , 92 

Alc7-t, tlie, captured by the Essex. .2(j^^ 295 

Algonquins 75 

Alien and sedition laws 277 

Allen, Samuel, proprietor of New- 
Hampshire 112, 117 

A iliance, frigate iQo 

Alliance with France. 178 

Amadas, Captain 27 

American prisoners in England i8S 

Amsterdam Separatists 43 

Andre, John, adjutant general of En- 
glish army. 195 

Andros, Sir Edmund 87, 98 

Annapolis 116 

Ari^e'/ZfT;, ship _. 54 

Archdale, Gov. of Carolina in 1695, '96. 120 
Argils, the, taken by the Pelican. . . . 298 
Armstrong, John, Gen., 210; his cam- 
paign 293, 298 

Arnold, Benedict, General, attacks 

Quebec, i56 ; after life 175, 195 

Artaquette, d' 229 

Articles of Confederation 205 

Ashley, Lord 92 

A ugusta, in Georgia 123 

Avalon, planted by Lord Baltimore,. . 35 



Bacon, Nathaniel 94 

Bainbridge, William, Commodore 282 

Balch, John 51 

Baltimore, Lord 35 

Baltimore attacked, successfully re- 
sists the English 301 

Barbary Powers 281 

Barlow, one of Raleigh's expedition.. 27 

Barron ." 288 

Bashaw of Tripoli 282 

Bashaw of Tunis 2S2 

Baton Rouge 232 

Battles : of Bennington, 174 ; Bunker 
Hill, 162; Bladensburg, 300; Con- 
cord, 158 ; Eutaw, 201 ; Lake Erie, 
297; Lexington, 159; Lundy's Lane, 
294 ; New Orleans, 303 ; Monmouth, 
178 ; Plattsburg, 300; Saratoga, 175 ; 

the Thames 293 

Baum, General 174 

Bayard, of Delaware 279 

Beacon Hill 89 



PAGE 

Bean, Ellis P 239 

Bellingham, Richard, Governor 82 

Bellomont, Earl of. Governor of New 

Jersey 106, 113, 114 

Bennington, battle of 174 

Berkeley, Sir W., Governor of Vir- 
ginia 39. 781 93.97 

Berkeley, in Massachusetts 17 

Berlin and Milan Decrees. . 287 

Bermuda 34 

Bien vdle. Gov. of New Orleans .... 224, 227 

Blackbeard, the pirate 127 

Black Prince and Princess 183 

Bladensburg, Battle of 300 

Bloody Brook 66 

Blue and buff 165 

Boone, Daniel 214 

Boscawen, Admiral 133 

" Boston Massacre." 146 

Boston, 54 ; town meeting on tea, 152 ; 

Port Bill, 155 ; siege of. 165 

Boxer, the, captured by the Enter- 
prise 298 

Braddock. Edward, General 128 

Bradford, Governor William 73 

Bradstreet, Governor Simon 80, go 

Bradstreet, General John. 134 

Brewster, William, Governor 46 

Breyman, Col., at Bennington 174 

Brock, General 294 

Bromfield, Major 203 

Brown, Gen., takes Fort Erie, loses it, 

is wounded at Lundy's Lane 299 

Brown, Robert 43 

Buffalo, destroyed by English 298 

Burgoyne, General John, 163, 173 ; 

his surrender 175 

Bute, Earl of 143 

Burke, Edmund 262 

O 

Cabot, Sebastian ig 

Calhoun, John Caldwell, leader of the 

House in 1811 293 

Calvert, George 35 

Calvert, Leonard 35 

Calvert, Philip 37 

Campbell, Colonel 181 

Camden in South Carolina 201 

Canseau 116 

Cape Ann 48, 51 

Cape Cod 46 

Cape Fear 91 

Carleton, Sir Guy (afterward Lord 

Dorchester) 212, 234 

Carmichael, William 270 

Carolinas, early history 91 

Carrying trade 264 



308 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Carteret, Sir George 78. 

Cartvvriglit 

CerJ", cutter 

Charles II. 

Chateaubriand 

Cheruby frigate 

Chesapeake, frigate, 298 ; beaten by 
Shannon 

Church, Capt. Benjamin 

Civil freedom 

Clarendon, Lord 

Clark, General Rogers 

Clark, William 

Clay, Henry, chosen Speaker of the 
House in Nov., 1811 

Clay borne, m Chesapeake Bay 

Clinton, George ....^ 

Clinton, Henry, General 167, 17S, 

Cockburn, Admiral George 

Cohiinbia l\ediznva 

Commercial enterprise 

Committee of Safety of Massachusetts 

Conant, Rogers 

Concord, battle of 

Confederation 

Connecticut, in 17th century, go; in 
iSth century 

Constitution of United States adopted. 

Constitution, the, fights the Guer~ 
riere 

Continental Congress 138, 161, 164, 

Continental Currency 

Continental Force 

Convention, for making a constitution. 

Conway, Gen. Henry Seymour 

Conyngham. Gustavus 

Cornwallis, Earl, 168, 172 ; he advan- 
ces to Virginia, and his surrender.. 

Cotton, John, Rev 

Cotton, industry in 

Council for Safety in Boston 

Countess of Scarborough, frigate. . . . 

Cradock, Matthew , 

Crown Point, 129 ; evacuated 

Culpepper, Thomas, Governor of Vir- 
ginia 

Cutler, Manasseh, Rev 



Dane, Nathan 

Davis, Isaac, Capt. of Acton Comp'y. 

Deane, Silas, early negotiations 

Dearborn, Gen. Henry, 281; appoint- 
ed comm.ander-in-chief in 1812.... 

Decatur, Stephen, Commodore 

De Gourgues 

De Leon, Juan Ponce 

Detroit, 266 ; its surrender to the 
English in 1812 

De Soto, Hernando 

Dieskau, Baron 

Dinwiddle, Robert, Gov. of Virginia. . 

Dolphin, cutter i . . 

Dorchester Adventurers 

Dorchester, Lord, Gov. of Canada.. . 

Dudley, Joseph 87, 

Dudley, Thomas, Governor 

Dtiquesne, ^.^arquis 

Duquesne, fort 



243 

159 
191 



Early Diplomacy 265 

East India Company 149, 150 

Eaton, Gen. William 283 

Ebenezer, in Georgia 123 

Elizabeth, Queen 27 

Elkins, Jacob 74 

Ellswortn, Chief Justice 274 

Embargo 289 

Emigration. . . .« 245, 264 

Endicott, John, Governor 51 

Enterp7-ise, the, captures the Boxer . 298 

EJ'ervier 302 

" Era of Good Feeling, The" 305 

Essex, the, fights the Alert, 294, 295 ; 

captured 298 

Eutaw, battle ot 201 

Exploration in Kentucky 214 

Eyre, Colonel 203 

F 

Fearnoi, privateer 183 

Federal Constitution 249 

finances of the Confederacy 205 

Fletcher, Benjamin, Governor of New 

York 103, io5 

" Flower of Essex " 66 

Forts, Amsterdam, 73 ; Conde, 232 ; 
Duquesne, 126 ; taken, 134, 135 ; 
Erie, 266; Franklin, 220; Fronte- 
nac, 130; Lee, 172 ; INlcHenry, 300 ; 
Miamis, 214; Niagara, 130; Orange, 
74 ; St. Andrews, 124 ; St. George, 
124; Steuben, 220; Venango, 220; 
Vincennes, 220 ; Washington, 172 ; 

AVilliam Flenry 132 

Fox, Charles James 201 

Frankland , 218 

Franklin, Sir John, his discovery.. . . 26 
Franklin, Benjamin, 151,- 152, 154 ; in 

France 175, igi 

Franklin, State of 215 

Freeman, Major Thomas 94 

French and Indian Wars tii 

French Claims 214 

Freydis 16 

Frolic, the, taken b)' the U'asp 295 

Frolic, the. under Bambridge, cap- 
tured by English frigate Orpheus . . 301 
P'rontenac. Count, Gov. of Canada,io5, iii 



Gage, Governor of Massachusetts, 155, 158 

Gallatin, Albert.^ 281 

Gardoqui, Charge d'Affaires 270 

Garaj' 19 

Garrison in , Boston 138 

Gates, Sir Thomas 33 

Gates, Horatio, Gen., 166, 174-175 ; at 

Saratoga, 175 ; at Camden 191, 193 

Genet, as an envoy 256 

Georgia 123 

Germaine, Lord George 176, 193 

George III., 118, 139, 154 ; a statue of. 144 

Ghent, peace signed at 304 

Gilbert, Humphrey 26 

Girty, Simon 217 

Gist, Christopher 211 

Gladstone, W. E., cited 247 

Godoy, " prince of peace " 271 



INDEX. 



309 



Golden Hind, the 26 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando 49, 85 

Gorges Robert 49 

Gratton, Duke of 149 

Granger, Gideon 2S1 

Greene, General Nathaniel 200, 259 

Grenville, George 159 

Grenville, Richard 27 

Giierriere, frigate, 290 ; surrenders to 

the Coiistitti.tion 295 

H 

Habersham, Joseph 281 

Hadley.in Philip's war 66 

Half Mooti, the ship 71 

Hamet of I'ripoli 283 

Hamilton, Alexander. 236, 253, 284 

Hammond, English minister 268 

Hampton, Wade 298 

Hariot, the mathematician 27 

Harrison, Gen. William Henry, 291 ; 
put in command of western army, 
besieged at Fort Meigs, 29'^; recovers 
Detroit, beats the English and In- 
dians on river Thames 297 

Harrod, James 215 

Heald, Colonel 294 

Heath, Gen. William ig6 

Henderson, Colonel 215 

Hennepin, Father 225 

Henry, Patrick 156 

Higginson, John, Rev 53 

Hodge, William 187 

Hopkins, Ezekiel, and his captures... 1S3 
Hornet, 298 ; under Biddle, captures 

the Pengu in 302 

Howe, Admiral Lord 170, 179 

Howe, General Sir William. 162, 165, 172, 178 

Howe, Lord , General 135 

Hudson, Henry 71 

Hull's Failure, General, 293 ; com- 
pelled to surrender at Detroit, his 
condemnation, Madison obliged to 

pardon him 254 

Humphrey 53 

Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne 57 

Hutchinson, Thomas, Gov. of Mas- 
sachusetts 138, 142, 146, 151, 153 

I 

Iberville, Lemoj'ne 224 

Illinois 214 

Impressment 28S 

Indiana 214 

Indian War 75 

Industry in Cotton 259 

Ingoldsby, Major, Gov. of New York. 104 

Iroquois 76 

Island of Kent 37 



Jackson, Andrew, fights Creek Indians 
at the south, 298 ; drives English 
from Pensacola, repulses their attack 
on Mobile, attacks English below 

■ New Orleans, and resists their at- 
tack on the city 303 

Jackson Square, m New Orleans 230 

James II. (Duke of York) 78 



PAGE 

Jamestown 96 

y£i!7«, frigate, captured 295 

Jay's 'J'reaty 265 

Jefferson, Thomas, 242, 253, 276 ; in- 
augurated 2S0 

Jeffreys, Colonel Herbert, Gov. of Va. 97 

Jessup, General 299 

Johnson, Ladj' Arabella 54 

Johnson, Sir William S 129 

Jones, John Paul 183 

Jumon ville, Coulon de 128 

K 

Kalb, de. Baron 194 

Kaskaskra 214 

Keith, George 103 

Kent, Island of 37 

Kidd, Vv'illiam, Capt 106, 116 

Kieft, William, Governor, 75; recalled. 77 

King Edward's Prayer Book. 42 

Knights of the Golden Horseshoe ... 119 

Knox, John 42 

Knox, county of, in Maine 245 

Knox, Gen. Henry 253 

Knyphausen, General 176 

U 

Lafayette, M. P. R. Y. C. M., Gen- 
eral igi, 192, 197 

Lancaster, town of 68 

Lane, Ralph 27 

Law, John 227 

Lawrence, James 297, 298 

Le Bon Honivie Richard 190 

Lee, Charles, Gen., 166 ; his misbe- 
havior 179 

Lee, Major Henry 182 

Lcif, discovers America 14. 

Leisler, Jacob, Gov, of N. Y 104, 105 

Leopard, frigate 288 

Leverett, Governor 85 

Lewis, Meriwether 241 

Lexington, battle of 159, 160 

Lexington, privateer 1S7 

Leyden 45 

Lincoln, Earl of 54 

Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin 181 

Lincoln, Levi 281 

Lincoln, county of. 245 

Little Belt, ship-of-war. 291 

Livingston, Robert 2.;o 

Locke, John 92 

Lothrop, Captain, at Bloody Brook. . 66 

Loudon, Earl of 131 

Louisburg taken 117 

Louisiana, Territory of 227 

Lovelace, Governor of New Jersey... 78 

Lovel, General 182 

Lundy's Lane, battle of 299 



Macomb, Gen. Alexander, commands 
American troops at Plattsburg 300 

Macedonian, frigate, surrenders to 
United States, used to convey food 
to starving people of Ireland, 1848. . 295 

Mackinac z66 

McClure, Robert, Capt 26 



3IO 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



PAGE 

McDonough, Thomas, Capt., com- 
mands American fleet at Plattsburg. 300 

" Mad Anthony " 182 

Madison, James 281, 296 

Manchac 232 

Manhadoes Island 81 

Manhattan Island 73 

Marbois, Barb6 , . 240 

Marietta 221 

Marion, General Francis 201 

Marlboro, town of, in danger 68 

Marshall, Judge, John 286 

Massacliusetts Bay, 50, 52 ; Massachu- 
setts Assembly addresses the King, 

152 ; members of Congress. ....... 157 

Massasoit , 63 

Matagorda Bay 226 

Mather, Cotton 113 

Mayflower, ship 44 

May hew, Thomas 5g 

Medal voted to Washington 167 

Merry mount , 48 

Metaconiet 63 

Michigan 214 

Michilimackinac 266 

Minuit, Peter 73 

Minute Men 156, 159, 160 

Miranda, General Francisco 236 

Mishawuru 54 

Missioniiry Work 59 

Mississippi River 270 

Monroe, James 273 

Montcalm, Marquis de 131 

Montesquieu, "• L'Esprit des Lois"... 247 

Montmorin, Count de 272 

Montreal, three simultaneous attacks. 137 

Moquis 21 

Morristown .'. 172 

Moultrie, Colonel William 168 

Mount Hope Bay 14 

Mount Vernon igg 

Mutiny Act, the 148 

Murray, Vans 274 

N 

Nahant 72 

Napoleon Bonaparte 237 

Narragansetts 64, 68 

Natchez Indians 22S, 232 

Naumkeag 52 

Navigation Act, the 138 

Navigation of the Mississippi 253 

Negroes from Guinea 34 

Neutrals 263 

Newbnrg Letters 205 

New England, 41, 58, 80 ; the confed- 
eration 58 

New Hampshire, 58, 85; proprietor.. ti2 

New Haven 58, 181 

New Jersey 101 

New Netherland 81 

New Orleans, battle of 303, 304 

New Rochelle 76 

Niagara 266, 297 

Nicolls, Colonel 77 

Nipmucks 65 

Nolan, Philip 237 

North-western Discovery 26 

North-west Territory 220 



PAGB 

North, Lord, 149 ; Prime Minister, 
146, 150, 155, 180; "all is over," 191; 

resigned 202 

Norton 80 

Nona Keevah Island 299 

Norwalk i8i 

O 

Oglethorpe, James, Gov. of Georgia.. 122 

Ohio 214 

" Old Ironsides " 295 

Oliver, Peter 142, 151 

Orange 79 

O'Reilly, Governor of Louisiana 231 

Oriskany 175 

Orkney, Lord, Governor of Virginia.. 118 

Orquiasco 238 

Oswegatchie 266 

Oswego 134, 266 

P 

Pakenham, Gen., English commander 

at battle of New Orleans 303 

Palfrey, Peter 51 

Pallas, ship 190 

Paper Money 205 

Parker, Admiral 168 

Parker, Captain, at Lexington 159 

Parris, Samuel 113 

Paulus Hook 182 

Peace of Paris 137 

Peacock, the, 298 ; its capture 302 

Pelica ;?, the ship 298 

Penn, William gg, loi 

Penobscot River 182 

Pensacola 231 

Pepperell, William 117 

Percy, Lord, Hugh," afterward Duke 

of Northumberland 160 

Perier, Governor of Louisiana 229 

Perouse, Admiral, I. F. G. de la...._. 262 
Perry, Commodore Oliver Hazard, his 

success on Lake Erie 297 

Pettyquamscot 67 

Philip's War, 63 ; his death 69 

Phillips, General, death of 191 

Philadelphia 102, 282 

Phips, Sir William, Gov. of Mass., 109; 

sent to England no, 112 

Phoebe, frigate 299 

Pickanillany, a French post 127 

Pickering, General Timothy 245 

Pinckney, Charles C 273 

Pinckney, Thomas 271 

Pike, General 296 

Piscataqua 481 5^. 85 

Pitcairn, Major 15<J 

Pitt, William 138, 143 

Place d'Armes, at New Orleans 230 

Plattsburg, battle of 300 

Pocahontas 33 

Pollock, Oliver 232 

Plymouth go 

Poictiers 295 

Poor Richard's Maxims 191 

Porter, Capt., commands the Essex, 

204, 208 ; voyage to the Pacific 299 

Port Royal surrendered 109 

Powhatan 32 



INDEX. 



311 



PAGE 

President, frigate zgi 

Preston, Captain, in Boston Massacre. 146 

Prevost, Gen., his western campaigning 296 

Prideaux, General 136 

Prince of Orange 89 

Princeton 172 

Private armed vessels 277 

Privateer fleet of the country 184 

3'roctor, Gen. opposes Harrison . . . .296, 297 
Protest against Navigation Act, 138 ; 

against Taxation 146 

Puritan, the name in England 41 

Puritan spirit weakening 83 

Putnam, Major Israel 135 

Quakers 60 

Quebec 135, 137 

Queen Elizabeth 27 



Raleigh, Sir Walter 26 

Randolph, Edward 85 

Randolph, Edward, Attorney-General 253 

Ranger, ship-of-war 185 

Rappahannock 26 

Ratification of treaties 257 

Rawdon, Lord 194 

Reprisal, ship-of-war 186 

Revenue from stamps 139 

Revere, Paul 159 

Rhode Island 58, 115 

Robinson, John 46 

Rochambeau, Count de 192, 199 

Rockingham, Ministry 143 

Rolfe, John , . 33 

Ross, Gen., arrives in the Chesapeake, 
takes Washington and threatens Bal- 
timore with Admiral Cochrane ; 

killed by sharpshooters 300 

Rowlandson, Mrs 68 



Sackett's Harbor attacked by General 
Prevost 

Saint Simon 

Salem 52, 

Salem witchcraft 

Salle, Robert Cavalier de la 

Saltonstall, Commodore 

San Antonio 

San Mateo 

Saratoga, battles of 

.Savannab River 

Savannah 

Scott, Winfield, wounded at Lundy's 
Lane. . 

Schenectady taken 

Schuyler, General Philip 

Scraellings 

Scrooby, village in England 

Serafis, frigate taken 

Settlement of the West 

Shaftesbury, Earl of. 

Shannon, the, takes the Chesapeake. 

Phelburne, Lord 

Skeleton in Armor 

Skelton, Emanuel, Puritan preacher.. 



PAGB 

Slaughter, Henry, Gov. New York.. . 104 

Smith, John, Captain 30 

Smith, Robert 281 

Sons of Liberty 138, 142 

■Spain in Louisiana 231 

Speedwell, ship 46 

Spotswood, Alexander, Gov. of Va... 118 

Stamp Act, passage and repeal 13S 

Star-Spangled Banner, origin of song 

of that name 301 

State governments 247 

Statues of Pitt and George III 138 

St. Augustine 25, 122, 231 

St. Clair, General Arthur 174, 254 

Steuben, Baron Frederick William 197 

Stevens, Henry. ... 20 

Stormont, Lord, complaints of 183 

Stoughton, William, Judge 113 

Strieker, John 300 

Stuyvesant, the wooden-legged 78 

Sugar Loaf Hill 174 

Sullivan's Island 168 

Sullivan, General John 179 

Swansea 64 

T 

Talleyrand 245 

Talmage, Captain, at Schenectady... 105 

Tampa Bay 20 

Tarleton, Banastre 196 

Tea Act, the 138, 150, 152 

Teach, Ned, a pirate J21 

Tea, thrown overboard 153 

Tecumseh, ally of the English, 291 ; 

killed at River Thames 297 

Ternay, Admiral 192 

Tennessee 214 

Texas . . , 237 

Thomas, General John 167 

Thorwald 15 

Thorwaldsen 15 

Ticonderoga, 133, 164, 174 ; abandoned 

hy the French 136 

Tippecanoe 291 

Tobacco 34 

Townshend, Charles 144, 148 

Transylvania 214 

Trenton 172 

Tryon, Governor 181 

Tupper, Benjamin 221 

Turner 66 

Tyrker 14 

United States, the, fights the Mace- 
donian 295 



United States, Constitution of 249 

V 

Valley Forge 177 

Vane, Henry 57 

Van Twiller, Wouter 74 

Van Rensselaer 294 

7 'engeance, frigate 19° 

Vergennes, French Minister 183 

Verazzano, French pirate 20 

Vinceunes 214 

Vinland 146 

Virginia 27» 28, 33, 118 



312 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



PAGE 

Virginia, gjeneral h istory of. 33 

Volney, C. F. C, Count de 245 

\A/ 

War of 1812, declared June i5 203, 294 

Ward, Artemas, General 160, 161 

Warren, Commodore. 116 

Washington, Colonel John 94 

Washington, George, 94, 128 ; letter 
from, 138, 155, 156, 161 ; resigns, 205 ; 
his administration as President, 242, 

253 ; he leaves office 257 

Washington, George, frigate 282 

Washington, city of, taken by Gen. 

Ross 300, 305 

Wasp, the, captures the Frolic. Tak- 
en by the Poictiers. 295 

Wasp, the, her successes and disap- 
pearance 302 

Wayne, Anthony, General 181, 255 

Wedderburn, Alexander 151 

Wesley, Charles 124 

Wesley, John 124 

West, Benjamin 139 

Western Domain 242, 243 

Western Reserve 244 

West Florida 231 



PAGE 

Weston, Thomas, settler in Mass 48 

Wheelwright, John 57 

White, Rev. John 51 

Whitney, Eli, inventor of cotton gin.. 260 

Whittingham, William 42 

Wicklif, John 42 

Wilkinson, Jdmes, Governor, 235 ; 

succeeds Dearborn 298 

William IV 202 

William of Orange, King of England. 108 

William and Mary College 98 

Williams, Roger 55 

Williamsburg 98 

Winder, General William H 300 

Winthrop, John 53 

Witchcraft cases J12 

Wolfe, James, General 136 

Wollaston 48 

Wyoming 245 

Y 

Vale College, 1701 115 

York, capture of, in Maine iii 

Yorktown, siege of 191 

Zunis 21 



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